The Cost of Living
by livezinshadowz
Summary: My response to pudgypudge's Jiongu challenge. Watch as Naruto is trained by Kakuzu to be a powerful ninja and bounty hunter, and follow him as he discovers that his new life requires a payment in blood to live successfully. Jiongu!Naruto; Naruto/Fū
1. Realizations

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Naruto._

"Out, get _out_ you damn demon!"

Uzumaki Naruto ran out the door of the shop, skidding around a corner and knocking over a nearby trashcan in his hasty escape. The 5-year-old rubbed his temples to clear the pounding in his head and slowly sat up, looking over his shoulder to see if the shop's proprietor had given chase. When the young boy saw he hadn't, he heaved a sigh of relief and plodded down the alley he found himself in.

Naruto, lost in thought, emerged into the daylight of another of Konoha's main shopping streets, and he wandered down it in the direction of his apartment. His stomach let out a growl of protest as he passed a fruit vendor and he subconsciously moved closer, hoping for something, _anything_, to abate the gnawing hunger. The vendor noticed his approach and shot him a dark glare that scared Naruto off and he rejoined his original path, a hungry orphan.

That was perhaps one of the greatest puzzles in Naruto's young life. He had asked Old Man Hokage about his parents but had received no real response, and so had gone to the library and attempted to research his lineage. Of course, he had limited reading skills and the librarian had thrown him out with the warning to never come back again when she discovered him, so he hadn't gotten too far, but it seemed as though there were no records of any 'Uzumaki' except for him.

As if that wasn't strange enough, Naruto possessed unruly, spiky blonde hair – as bright and vibrantly colored as the sun – and crystal blue eyes, both extremely rare traits among the citizens of the Hidden Leaf. The closest he could think of was the Yamanaka clan, but their hair and eyes were much paler than his, and they seemed close-knit enough as a family to not just abandon one of their own.

Naruto arrived at his apartment and walked in, absent-mindedly putting on some water to boil for ramen. He sat in a rickety chair at the kitchen table in silence, the scar of being chased out of yet another store still fresh and aching.

Minutes passed, the water boiled, and Naruto stood up to make his meager meal. He sat back down and slurped down the noodles, thinking over the day's events. That incident was not the first one in which he had been chased out of a shop, or been called a demon for that matter. The majority of the villagers, and even a decent amount of the shinobi, seemed to either outright hate him or (at the very least) act completely indifferent to his existence.

This was the second strangest puzzle in the blonde's life: what had he done to deserve such hatred aimed at him? He was only five years old, and aside from attempting to nick an apple here or there to prevent himself from starving, he couldn't think of a single thing that would warrant such animosity towards him. Unless…

Naruto paused mid-bite, working through a new thought. What if something his family or clan had done was so bad, so despicably vile, that the villagers were taking their anger and grief out on him? It explained why everyone seemed to hate him, as well as why there was no mention of any 'Uzumaki' in any records he could find; if whatever had happened was _that_ bad then it probably would've been stricken from the records. It all fit!

The 5-year-old scowled at his empty ramen cup. What a stupid reason to be mean to him! He couldn't be blamed for whatever his ancestors had done, he was just a child! Yet, it seemed as though the villagers were taking their grief and anger out on him, if the past several years of abuse and exile was any indication. Naruto abruptly stood up, causing the chair to clatter to the floor. "Fine," he said aloud, "I can see when I'm not wanted. I'm outta here…this village, and the people in it, can rot for all I care." Silence greeted this proclamation, but Naruto nodded in assurance of his decision.

Fifteen minutes later found Naruto beginning a trudge along a well-hidden path that led through the forest surrounding Konoha. He had gathered what meager supplies he had, including a small amount of money, and packed them in a shabby-looking backpack that appeared too big for his small frame. He glanced back at his old home one more time. "Goodbye Konoha. If you're lucky, you'll never see me again. Otherwise, I swear I will have vengeance for myself and my family." With that declaration hanging ominously in the still air, Naruto turned around and didn't look back.

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu jumped from branch to branch, growling at the protection the dense foliage the trees of Fire Country provided his latest bounty. He was frustrated that he hadn't caught the little shit yet.

Then a kunai with an exploding tag shot down at him and promptly exploded.

He emerged from the smoke cloud with his clothing smoking and somewhat tattered and darker skin – a sign that he had activated his _**Doton: Domu**_; Earth Release: Earth Spear technique.

Scratch that, he was _pissed_. That fucker was _so_ dead.

It wasn't like the guy he was chasing was even strong, just clever. He was a rogue Chūnin from Iwagakure, but had Jōnin level abilities in hiding, stealth, and traps.

Basically, he was a coward.

But he was a damn smart coward if he could keep ahead of Kakuzu – a keen analyst in his own right – for the past several hours. That was pretty much the only reason Kakuzu was chasing him; and because the little shit had tried to steal from him. _That_ was just unacceptable.

Kakuzu pushed a bit more chakra to his feet and managed to catch sight of his target. Adrenaline shot through his system as the excitement of the capture built, fueled on by the sight of the renegade in front of him. Fortunately, he had a much larger chakra capacity than the Chūnin, and the chase had been going on for a decent amount of time, so the other man's stamina was running low.

It was time to act.

Kakuzu performed three hand seals and summoned chakra to his mouth. "_**Katon: Zukkoku**_; Fire Release: Searing Migraine!" A condensed fireball shot from his mouth and impacted on a tree branch just behind the Iwa-nin. The ensuing explosion felled several trees and sent his target flying.

Behind his mask, Kakuzu grinned.

-l-l-l-

Naruto didn't know how long he had been walking. The forest surrounding Konohagakure seemed virtually endless, and he was willing to wager that he had been wandering around for several hours at least.

Then he heard the explosions.

His ears perked – they had always been a bit more sensitive than everyone else's ears – at the loud noise and he stopped moving and looked around. His eyes narrowed and he took off running northwest from his current position.

Curiosity was a strange thing, Naruto supposed as he ran. Any normal person probably would've run in the opposite direction of whatever made such a huge ruckus. But as a young child, and what's more, a young _boy_, anything that went 'boom' or involved fire was automatically classified as 'cool'. He didn't give consideration to the fact that it might be an enemy, or an assassin, or anything. He just had to know who or what was causing the huge explosion.

Ten minutes later, he stopped at the edge of a clearing, mouth agape in a mixture of awe and horror.

Several trees lay on the ground, smoldering and charred black. Huge chunks of bark were missing from standing and toppled forestry alike, branches broken and splintered, some hanging precariously from their perches. Leaves were scattered about the clearing, most of them burnt to a crisp. Naruto stared at the destruction, eyes wide in amazement at whom or what could cause such damage to the area.

"That will teach you to try stealing from me."

Naruto's head swiveled so fast he thought he heard his neck snap. Standing in front of one of the less damaged trees was a giant of a man, about six feet tall (which matched his deep, guttural voice). A long black cloak hung around his body, falling to the knees of his blue sweatpants, a pair of traditional blue ninja sandals on his feet. Some sort of tan cloth was covering his head and hair, disappearing into the recesses of his cloak, and a triangular black thing was sticking up in the front, tied in the back by a strip of cloth. In front of him…

The Iwa-nin had been unfortunate enough to get caught in the blast radius of Kakuzu's _**Zukkoku**_ technique. The explosion had sent him careening bodily into a thick tree trunk, which had splintered from the impact and broken the man's right arm and leg. As he sat on the ground, dazed and confused with blood dribbling from his nose and mouth, Kakuzu had appeared and proceeded to slowly approach him, a maniacal grin hidden by the black cloth around his mouth. The next ten minutes had appeased to Kakuzu's sadistic side before the bounty hunter decided to end it.

Naruto gasped as the tall man's hand seemed to emerge from the other ninja's chest, a large mass of black…_something_…attached to the hand, which disappeared into the sleeve of his cloak. The blonde thought he saw the giant's head twitch slightly in his direction, and quickly ducked behind a tree. He took several deep breaths, and heaved a silent sigh of relief when nothing immediately happened to him. He peeked around the edge of the tree, but only the dead body of the other ninja was there.

_Wha–? Where'd he go?_

"Hmph. I thought I sensed someone arriving. Just some damn brat though."

Naruto saw red; he had had enough of being looked down upon. "Oi! Who're you calling a brat?" he shouted as he turned around and threw a punch at the tall man's leg.

In retrospect, Naruto would look back on that moment and realize that it was simply _stupid_ to attack this man. He was clearly a ninja – and a powerful one at that – and Naruto had yet to even start attending the Ninja Academy back in Konoha. And even disregarding that, there was the fact that this man had already killed someone else, and Naruto was only half his size, if that. So it wasn't altogether surprising that the ninja managed to dodge his basic attack…but then his foot met Naruto's stomach and the boy slammed into a tree fifty feet away, blood spurting from his mouth.

"Normally, I would not even bother wasting my time with a _brat_ like you," mocked the ninja, taking slow steps forward and stopping a good 30 feet from Naruto's position on the ground. "But I have had a particularly trying day, and that last kill was not _nearly_ as satisfying as I thought it would be. My name is Kakuzu, brat. Remember it, so you can tell the devil that it was I who sent you to Hell."

Naruto watched as the man – Kakuzu – performed a series of hand seals and brought his right hand to his mouth, forming a ring with the thumb and index finger. "_**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**_; Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique." Naruto watched as the giant ball of fire engulfed him, and then he thought no more.

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu watched as his technique overtook the young boy and waited until the fire died out, leaving the boy's body scorched and smoking. "Hm…that could have been more challenging."

The bounty hunter turned around and walked towards the body of the Iwa-nin, looting the corpse for anything of value. He found a small bag of money ("Not even worth the time to kill him"), some exploding tags ("Worthless"), as well as a couple of kunai, some shuriken, and a spool of wire ("Substandard quality") which he dropped on the ground. The only other thing of interest Kakuzu found was a small sealing scroll – empty – which he promptly used to seal the body of the missing-nin in.

He was about to leave when a wave of foul chakra washed over the area, stopping him in his tracks. "Hm?" He turned back and watched as a strange, malicious, red chakra covered the blonde boy. His eyes narrowed slightly as the chakra boiled and hissed over the boy's wounds, slowly healing them and making the burns caused by his attack disappear. "That is rather interesting," Kakuzu muttered. He grabbed one of the Iwa-nin's kunai and approached the blonde, who had started to moan and stir. When he was standing in front of the blonde, he used the black threads in his body to detach his right hand and slide the kunai down the length of the blonde's arm, watching in morbid fascination as the red chakra hissed over the wound and healed it, not even leaving a scar.

-l-l-l-

Naruto wasn't entirely sure what was going on. He remembered being hit by Kakuzu's attack…and then pain. Lots of pain.

He moaned as his body moved, a prickly feeling like ants on skin running through his veins. It took a minute for the feeling to fade, and then he heard footsteps approaching. _Please don't be Kakuzu, please don't be Kakuzu!_ He stayed perfectly still, trying to play possum and prayed that Kakuzu would think he was dead.

Then, a stinging feeling as a sharp object – a kunai, Naruto guessed – was dragged down his arm. He hissed slightly at the pain, but otherwise tried to remain as silent as possible. He heard nothing for a moment, and almost heaved a sigh of relief.

"Boy."

Naruto flinched, recognizing the deep voice as Kakuzu's. He continued trying to fake death, even though he knew it was pointless.

"I know you are alive, boy. Open your eyes and look at me, or I will make sure you die for real this time." The blonde decided to give in, and opened his blue eyes. Kakuzu was standing above him, an imposing, towering figure. A black cloth covered his mouth and nose, and that weird black triangle thing was attached to a _hitae-ate_ that held the crude symbol of a waterfall with a slash line through it – a sign that Kakuzu was a missing-nin from Takigakure, the Village Hidden in Waterfalls (not that Naruto could identify that). His eyes were the strangest feature of all though: green, pupil-less orbs set in red sclera. They stared down at Naruto, and the blonde had the strangest feeling that those eyes were penetrating his very being.

"Where are you from, boy?"

"A-around…" Naruto hedged, hoping that Kakuzu didn't kill him. He'd rather not tell this stranger he was from Konoha, though he couldn't explain why not.

Apparently, Kakuzu didn't care enough to pursue that avenue. "Do you have a _kekkai genkai_?"

"A…a what?"

Kakuzu sighed and fought down the urge to kill the brat. "A bloodline limit; a special trait that runs through your family."

Naruto blinked. "Oh. I, uh, I don't know. I'm an orphan; I don't know my family."

"Interesting," the other man mused.

Kakuzu was silent for several moments, during which Naruto found the courage to speak up. "Why?"

Naruto watched as Kakuzu seemed to debate with himself momentarily (or so it appeared; most of Kakuzu's face was covered, so it was hard to tell). Finally, "You seem to have some sort of healing ability that allows you to recover from any injury. Such an attack would have killed ninja several times your age and possessed of talents far beyond what you have – which seems to be next-to-nothing – and yet you somehow survived it at point-blank range, and do not have even a scratch to show that you were attacked in the first place. It is…an anomaly."

Naruto remained silent as he absorbed this information. So, he had some special ability that allowed him to heal from anything? That was so cool!

"Boy." Naruto focused his attention back on Kakuzu, who was standing in front of him looking rather stoic. "I have never done this before, but your ability to heal and withstand my attack is an intriguing one. If you would like, you can come with me, and I will teach you how to properly harness this power."

The blonde boy stared at Kakuzu. Here was a stranger, who had tried to kill him no less, offering him companionship and guidance, two of the very things he had always desired and been denied back in Konoha. And maybe…maybe Kakuzu would be able to help him uncover his family history, and even help him get vengeance against the village which had so wronged him.

"Hurry up and make a decision, brat. I am not a patient person by any stretch of the imagination; time is money, and I do not waste money."

Naruto gulped and nodded. "Okay, I'll go with you."

Kakuzu nodded in response. "Very well. Now…" he trailed off. Naruto watched as Kakuzu stood still, a statue in the destroyed clearing. Just when he was about to say something, Kakuzu moved. "You are under my care now boy, so you will do as I say, do you understand?" When Naruto nodded, Kakuzu continued, "Hide behind these trees and do not move, no matter what you may see or hear. Stay there until I tell you that it is safe to come out. This should not take long." The bounty hunter watched as the blonde brat did as he was told before jumping into the trees and moving southeast quickly.

Within a minute, Kakuzu was stopped by the approach of three chakra signatures. Three ninja, all wearing the masks and attire of Konoha ANBU, stood on tree limbs in front of him as he jumped to the ground, searching for better leverage. "We're looking for a blonde-haired boy, approximately 5-years-old," began the leader, "have you seen him?"

"That is none of your concern," Kakuzu replied. "You should be more worried about who will find you."

The three ANBU stiffened. "Is that a threat?"

"I do not make idle threats. Prepare to – ngh!" Kakuzu looked down to see two feet of steel sticking through his chest before he collapsed to the ground, the katana sliding cleanly from his body. An ANBU in a tiger mask stood behind him, the sword covered in a fiery aura – a sign that fire chakra was being channeled into it.

The leader nodded. "Good work. Now fan out and find the demon."

"Not…so fast…" All four ANBU blanched as Kakuzu's corpse began to rise from the ground. It released a throaty sound which they assumed passed for a chuckle before saying, "It has been awhile since someone has taken my life. You seem to have a fire affinity, though…I can replace my destroyed heart with yours!"

"Defensive formation!" barked the ANBU leader. "We don't know what he's capable of, but if he can survive a killing strike, we need to be cautious."

"A smart move," Kakuzu commented as the other three ninja split up, "but not good enough." Then he disappeared and reappeared behind the leader, plowing a _**Doton: Domu**_ covered fist through the Leaf-nin's chest. Blood gushed from the wound and the dead ninja's mouth before Kakuzu allowed the body to drop to the forest floor.

"Hm," he observed idly, "it will take far too long to hunt down each of these remaining rats. I better get serious." Kakuzu threw off his cloak, revealing a sleeveless blue shirt underneath, as well as strange stitch marks along his arms, shoulders, and back, the latter also sporting four animal masks, one of which was broken. Then the Taki-nin's muscles bulged, and the masks popped off his back, black threads stitching closed the open wounds.

Three of the masks took monstrous animalistic forms, using the black tendrils that thrived in Kakuzu's body as a basis for their own form; the fourth mask collapsed to the ground in a puddle of black goo. The three masks took off in one direction, while Kakuzu headed in the opposite one.

Ten minutes later, Kakuzu had cornered the ANBU with the fire chakra and had handily beaten him with water elemental attacks. The other three masks suddenly appeared and buried themselves seamlessly into Kakuzu's back, taking their rightful place as stationary objects once again. Kakuzu turned back to his prey. "Your teammates are dead, and you are about to join them. Do you have any last words?"

"Wh-what…_are_ you?"

"I am a bounty hunter. My name is Kakuzu; remember it, for it will be the last name you ever hear. Now die." With that, black tendrils slithered out from the stitch in Kakuzu's forearm and dug into the Leaf-nin's chest. The ANBU gagged as his heart was forcefully pulled from his chest, and then he died. Kakuzu waited as the heart was assimilated into his body, and then took off the ANBU's mask, revealing glassy, blood red eyes with three tomoe in each one. "An Uchiha…no wonder he seemed so skilled; and it also explains the high _**Katon**_ affinity. Pity…he might have fetched a high price one day." Kakuzu let the black threads maneuver the mask to his back where it was sewn on to cover his newly captured heart. "I am full once again. Now back to the brat."

Naruto waited for what felt like forever, but was actually only about 15 minutes. When he heard Kakuzu calling – "You can come out now, brat" – he appeared from his hiding spot, taking in the slight puncture in Kakuzu's cloak. "You got stabbed," Naruto pointed out needlessly.

"A minor wound, you will discover in time. Come…I have much to teach you." The bounty hunter gestured for Naruto to climb onto his back, and the blonde did so silently. "What is your name, brat?"

Naruto twitched…he didn't like being called a brat. "Uzumaki Naruto."

"Very well, Naruto. First of all, do not get used to this. I'm only doing this to get away quickly, since you do not have the training. We will start rectifying that situation very soon. Second, you will call me 'Kakuzu', and nothing else, or I will kill you for your impudence; honorifics are old-fashioned. Lastly…your training begins now." Kakuzu jumped to the nearest tree branch, taking to the canopy to better hide his trail. Then began the lecture…

"The most important rule you will ever learn is this: money is everything. The world revolves around money; even Hell runs on money…"

Naruto listened to everything with rapt attention, taking in as much as he could. It was the beginning of a new life.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: **Welcome to _The Cost of Living_, my attempt at responding to pudgypudge's _**Jiongu**_ challenge!

I decided to do this for two reasons: 1) it kinda-sorta will go along with a story idea I came up with a long time ago, but never really decided to write; and 2) I don't believe Kakuzu gets enough respect; he died really stupidly in the anime/manga (in my opinion), and every story I read that introduces Akatsuki early always seems to kill him off way too early or easily (not to say that the story isn't good, it just frustrates me). Kakuzu is my favorite Akatsuki member (along with Zetsu), and so putting this out helps me memorialize him in a sense.

Anyway, this will be a rather long story - just about 20 chapters - and will take some...different...turns. I have the entire thing planned out, along with the next two chapters written, and will attempt to post those over the next two weeks (one each week). I make no promises about updating (see my profile), and I have other stuff to work on, so don't be surprised if I seem to die for a little bit.

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed it!


	2. Teachers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

Naruto concluded rather quickly that Kakuzu liked money.

"Hey brat, did you hear what I just told you?"

Naruto sighed from his position on Kakuzu's back. "Yeah."

"Then what did I say?"

"You were explaining how any ninja that's worth more than 15 million ryō is a good bounty and worth hunting."

"…Good."

Maybe 'like' was an understatement. Kakuzu was _obsessed_ with money. That wasn't to say the bounty hunter wasn't upholding his part of the agreement; throughout the entire journey – which was sped up thanks to Kakuzu continuously pushing chakra to his feet – Kakuzu had continued to lecture and tutor Naruto on the basics of the ninja world, including countries, Hidden Villages, Kages (the rulers of the larger Hidden Villages), and anything else of importance he could think of.

Suddenly, Kakuzu came to abrupt halt, throwing Naruto violently against his back with the sudden change in momentum. "Um, Kakuzu, why are we stopping?"

The older ninja's head turned slightly in indication of the question. "We are on the outskirts of a small town within Fire Country, close to the border of Grass Country. I believe we are far enough away from any major village that we are safe, and so this town will be our temporary base of operations while I train you."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "So where exactly are we?"

"If memory serves, the town is called Onanji. It is relatively unknown, and therefore quite self-sufficient; I am sure we will find everything we need here." He paused and then growled, "Now get off of me," and Naruto immediately relaxed his grip, sliding off the giant's back. The two walked side-by-side until they reached the small village, entering it silently and veering to the right as Kakuzu spied an empty field of short grass nearby. He walked to the center of it and turned around, gesturing for Naruto to stand about 10 feet away from him.

The blonde shifted restlessly from foot to foot as Kakuzu stared at him, silently weighing his options. At length, the bounty hunter spoke, his tone commanding and low. "I am going to begin teaching you how to be a ninja. Since you have no training, I will explain everything to you from the beginning…despite how irritating that is. Watch and listen.

"In order to effectively become a ninja, you must learn how to access and utilize chakra." When Naruto opened his mouth to speak, Kakuzu shot him a glare that silenced him instantly. "I am getting there brat! Chakra is a combination of energy from your body's cells and the mental and spiritual energy gained from physical exertion. You will first need to practice accessing your chakra in order to use it for jutsu; I will teach you that shortly.

"Now, ninja techniques can be broken down into three categories: ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu. Ninjutsu is the broadest category, incorporating the hundreds or even thousands of special techniques that ninja use in battle; you have experienced ninjutsu firsthand already." Naruto shuddered at the memory of the searing heat from Kakuzu's fireball, but otherwise remained silent and still. "Taijutsu encompasses the realm of physical attacks; genjutsu are illusions used to confuse and disorient the enemy. Do you understand so far?"

Naruto nodded slowly. "Ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu; ninja techniques, physical attacks, illusions. Got it!"

Kakuzu's green eyes narrowed, focusing intently upon the young boy. "You are very fortunate that you met me brat. I have perhaps one of the widest arsenals of ninjutsu you will ever come across in your lifetime. Therefore, you will have a large focus on your ninjutsu collection. Here is what you need to know, however.

"There are five main categorizations of ninjutsu: _**Katon, Suiton, Fūton, Raiton, **_and _**Doton**_; Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Earth elements. Each one is strong and weak against another, in a cycle. Water beats Fire, Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Lightning, Lightning beats Earth, and Earth beats Water. Additionally, every ninja has a specific chakra alignment that places emphasis on which element you are strongest in and therefore more adept at learning and using efficiently.

"Now, I will show you how to channel chakra, so that you are aware of it. Put your hands in this position," continued Kakuzu as he performed the motion, putting his left index and middle fingers upright and curling his right hand under the left, leaving the right index finger standing. "This is the Ram seal, one of twelve different hand signs used to activate jutsu…the Ram also helps to increase concentration and allow for easier access to your chakra." He waited patiently as Naruto fumbled with the hand seal, clumsily putting his hands together in a decent replica of Kakuzu's hands. "Now, focus within yourself and try to bring your chakra to the surface."

Naruto closed his eyes and tried to feel for _something_ within him. After about a minute, he opened his eyes to see his teacher watching him intently. "A decent first try," Kakuzu mused, "considering that you have had no formal training in controlling or even using your chakra. Keep it up; I will be back in a bit."

Kakuzu left then, walking towards the main thoroughfare of Onanji. He glanced around at the shops as he went, noting with his keen memory where all of the places of interest were for future use. He stopped suddenly in front of a store, gazing at the sign with curiosity before pushing open the doors and heading in. The proprietor – an average-sized man in his mid-thirties – looked up from the counter, instinctively backing away slightly at Kakuzu's menacing presence. "H-how can I help you today?" he stammered.

"Do you sell ninja supplies?"

"S-some. A-anything in p-particular?"

Kakuzu merely grinned wickedly behind his mask.

Ten minutes later, Kakuzu exited the shop, a handful of supplies for his new charge buried in the folds of his cloak. He snorted to himself. _One little brat with interesting abilities and I find myself a fucking teacher to the little shit. Oh, how the mighty have fallen._

The bounty hunter wandered down the road again, taking a branch that led to one of the outlying farms when it appeared. A simple house appeared shortly thereafter, and he approached the dwelling, rapping sharply on the door. He heard shuffling from inside and waited momentarily for the door to swing open, revealing a tall man (though not Kakuzu's height) with short-cropped brown hair and intelligent green eyes. "Yes?" he asked, looking Kakuzu up and down.

"Your name is Ryo, correct?"

Ryo blinked, caught off-guard. "That's correct. I don't believe we've met before; how do you know me? And who might you be?"

"That is not your concern," Kakuzu stated dismissively. "You teach some of the local children, if what I have been told is accurate."

"…Even if that was true, I don't associate myself with people whom I've just met or don't trust. You seem to fall into both categories. Good day to you." He stepped back and began to close the door, but Kakuzu's hand shot out and grabbed the man's collar, yanking Ryo up to his face.

"Listen here, _Ryo_," Kakuzu mocked, "I do not have a lot of patience, so I will explain this to you in the simplest terms possible. I have taken a very interesting student under my wing to teach the ninja arts to. However, he is quite young and appears to be severely handicapped in his regular learning as well. Therefore, it will be your job to teach him what he needs to know with regards to reading, writing, mathematics, and whatever else you can think of, while I handle the rest of his training. In return…" Kakuzu paused and pretended to think, allowing the ominous silence to build tension.

"In return, I promise not to kill you and your pathetic family, or anyone else in this village. I am reasonably sure this place would not be sorely missed if it mysteriously vanished from what few maps it does happen to be on. So…do we have a deal?"

Ryo stared at the ninja, his feet barely touching the ground, quaking as Kakuzu delivered his "proposition". He gulped slightly, the gesture noted by Kakuzu, who took great satisfaction in threatening someone. "W-when do I s-start?"

"That is what I like to hear: initiative. Come by tomorrow at noon, to the field at the entrance of the town. If you are not on time…well, then I will be forced to hunt you down; and I guarantee you that you will not like that very much. Good day," he finished, echoing Ryo's earlier dismissal with a healthy amount of derision.

Kakuzu spent the next several hours wandering around the town, mapping Onanji out. He hadn't survived as a ninja for over 80 years by slacking off and making stupid mistakes. The only reason he had felt secure in leaving Naruto alone was because they were far enough away from any major village (especially Konoha) that it would take a long time for any search party to reach them, if any were searching.

Kakuzu cut a wide swath through the streets, his height and obscured features screaming to the civilians that he was not to be trifled with. Onanji had little to offer as a threat, especially to a ninja of his caliber. The town possessed a slew of different craftsmen – making up for a lack of quantity with an increase in quality – ranging from leatherworkers to blacksmiths to tailors. It was also surrounded by farms which appeared to raise a variety of products, allowing for it to be, as Kakuzu told Naruto, almost completely self-sufficient.

When Kakuzu decided to return to the field he had left his protégé at, he fully expected Naruto to be passed out, unconscious from chakra exhaustion. He arrived just in time to see Naruto flop to the ground, sweat dripping from his face and panting heavily, but still conscious. One eyebrow rose in surprise at the amount of stamina Naruto had, but he merely approached the boy and unloaded the bundle of camping equipment he'd been carrying around for awhile. "Get up brat," he ordered.

"'m not a brat," Naruto sulked as a he climbed shakily to his feet.

Kakuzu chose to ignore that comment. "Can you sense your chakra?" Naruto's head bobbed, a pleased expression on his face. "Very well…show me."

The blonde boy shifted his legs so they were firmly planted on the ground and brought his hands together into the Ram seal, closing his eyes. Several seconds passed before blue chakra swirled around him, weak but visible nonetheless. Kakuzu blinked in surprise. _So, he managed to get it after only a couple of hours. Impressive…for a brat._ "Alright, that is enough." Naruto dropped his hands and opened his eyes, the blue energy dissipating as he straightened and looked at his teacher. "Do you remember what I told you earlier about elemental ninjutsu?"

Naruto bobbed his head again, and Kakuzu was half-tempted to slap him upside it just so he would stop that ridiculous motion. "Water beats Fire which beats Wind which beats Lightning which beats Earth which beats Water, right?" Naruto recited.

"That is correct. You will recall that I told you every ninja has a specific chakra alignment with one – or sometimes more than one – of these elements." Here, Kakuzu reached inside his cloak and pulled out two square sheets of paper. "This is chakra paper," he explained, "created from trees that are specifically grown with chakra. It is the easiest way to determine which element you have an affinity for." Kakuzu moved one of the sheets to his left hand and focused chakra to his right. The paper there immediately became water-logged. "My main chakra nature is Water, though I can use every element. Now, take this –" and here Kakuzu held out the paper in his left hand "– and channel your chakra into it."

Naruto reached out rather hesitantly and took the paper, staring at it momentarily before closing his eyes and focusing on the feeling he'd spent the last several hours discovering. He heard Kakuzu 'hm' in what he could only guess to be interest before opening his eyes. The chakra paper in his hand had split down the middle, right where he had grasped it with his thumb and forefinger. He looked straight up into Kakuzu's strange green eyes. "What's this mean?" he asked, holding up the paper.

"You have a strong _**Fūton**_ affinity. Wind Element," Kakuzu clarified when Naruto gave him a puzzled look.

"Is that…bad?" Naruto hazarded.

Kakuzu waved his hand in dismissal and Naruto could've sworn he heard the ninja snort. "There is no 'bad' element. It is interesting though…Wind nature is quite rare in Fire Country. However, it is a very versatile element, primarily known for its ability to cut." At Naruto's lost expression, Kakuzu sighed. "Wind Element is sharper than any blade, able to cut through virtually any object with relative ease. I will train you to hone that ability in time.

"However, you have done enough for today. We will get something to eat and then get some rest. There is much to be done tomorrow, and time –"

"— is money," finished Naruto before Kakuzu could. Kakuzu blinked in surprise and smirked beneath his mask. _Clever brat. You and I will get along just fine._

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu woke later than normal, taking advantage of Onanji's anonymity to be a bit more relaxed than he might normally be. He sat up, head scratching the top of the tent he had bought the previous day, and watched Naruto sleep as cluttered thoughts roamed his mind.

The boy was talented, Kakuzu would grant him that. He seemed to have an unusually large amount of stamina, which for ninja translated to a larger chakra capacity (always a good thing). Although his grasp of language was a bit lagging – and Kakuzu assumed therefore his writing and reading talents were also behind – Ryo would be around to fix that, which was much more important than any ninja arts Kakuzu could teach him at this point. Ryo wasn't _necessary_ – after all, Kakuzu could read and write – but with the teacher taking Naruto under his wing, Kakuzu was free to bounty hunt and keep an income flowing while Naruto learned.

Naruto rolled over and mumbled slightly in his sleep, bringing Kakuzu back to his train of thought. The brat seemed to have an impressive healing ability that he had not known of before; Kakuzu presumed that was because no one else had tried to kill him before, so the ability had remained inactive until it was needed. The chakra that it required had to be massive, which would explain the boy's larger-than-average capacity. There was also the way it felt, though…evil, tainted…

That chakra was more than just mere killing intent. Killing intent was based off of emotion either inadvertently leaked or used for intimidation purposes. Naruto didn't know that, which meant the chakra nature itself was evil. There were also those strange whisker marks on Naruto's cheeks, but that could be a physical manifestation of some clan trait. Still…Kakuzu wouldn't write off any potential explanations until he could definitely rule them out. He couldn't tell for sure what was different about Naruto, but there _was_ something different. In the meantime…

"Get up, brat; time to start training." Naruto groaned but woke up nonetheless, following Kakuzu outside the tent. What followed was Naruto's first of many rather brutal training sessions…

Several hours later, Kakuzu made out the figure of Ryo approaching their training spot. The teacher carried a scroll under one arm and a backpack over the other shoulder. He stopped in front of Kakuzu, watching as Naruto finished a series of stretches and calisthenics that Kakuzu had showed him after practicing with his chakra. Kakuzu cleared his throat and Naruto looked up, face morphing into a confused expression as his gaze settled on Ryo.

"Naruto," Kakuzu stated, voice brusque and business-like, "this is Ryo. I have asked him (_Asked me?_ Ryo wondered, _more like forced me_) to teach you how to read and write properly, as well as to make sure you learn math and whatever else he finds necessary. You will show him respect while he is here, and you will pay close attention to what he has to teach you. While not directly related to being a ninja, these subjects will affect your life and sharpen your mind; as you will discover, a good mind is a very valuable tool for anyone to have. Now, finish your exercises while I have a word with your _sensei_."

Kakuzu beckoned Ryo to follow him out of earshot. Once a safe distance away, he leaned down into Ryo's face and stared intently at the man, an intimidation tactic he learned worked wonderfully on civilians due to his unusual eyes. "I will be leaving on and off for missions so Naruto and I will have money with which to survive here on. While I am gone, I expect that you will house him and guard him _with your life_. Am I understood?" When Ryo nodded, Kakuzu dismissed him with a wave of his hand. "Good. Now, your pupil is waiting. I have some business to take care of, but I will most likely be back tonight. Watch over him until then." Then Kakuzu disappeared, leaving a visibly shaken Ryo to walk over to Naruto and introduce himself. He spread out the scroll he had with him and began to tutor his newest student.

-l-l-l-

A year passed without incident. Just as he said, Kakuzu disappeared every so often to hunt rogue ninja, partially for the money and partially to vent his frustration that it appeared he was getting _soft_. During those times, Naruto would stay with Ryo, who despite his fear of Kakuzu, learned to like and enjoy Naruto's company. The boy listened to anything he taught with an intense look upon his face, hanging off of every word.

In addition to daily workouts, which consisted mainly of running, stretching, and shadow-fighting, Naruto was often tested by Kakuzu and Ryo on random subjects pertaining to anything and everything. Kakuzu realized rather quickly that Naruto was able to grasp general concepts pretty swiftly for someone his age, despite his previous learning handicap. And while Naruto would never be as smart as Kakuzu himself, the blonde was clever and cunning, able to pick out flaws in strategies and set up traps on a level that surprised the bounty hunter. With the right training and teachers, it looked as though Naruto could've been (or still could be) the prodigy of whatever clan or family he belonged to.

_I believe it is time to start teaching him some ninjutsu. I will start when I return to the village._

Kakuzu was currently headed out on another hunt, traversing the border between Grass Country and Rain Country to head to southern Earth Country. Rumors of a skilled missing-nin from Kusagakure – the Village Hidden in Grass – had started floating around, and Kakuzu wanted to cash in on the new high bounty before someone else did.

"You seem to be on a mission Kakuzu-san. Perhaps I could detract your attention for a few moments?"

The tall ninja paused in the path as something green melded from the ground not twenty feet in front of him. The green thing opened to reveal a man with short green hair and yellow eyes, body split in two – right side solid black, left side snow white – and engulfed by what appeared to be a large Venus Fly Trap. Wrapped around his body was a full black cloak (much like his own, Kakuzu noted) decorated with red clouds. Kakuzu tensed, unsure of how to react to this strange appearance by someone he didn't recognize from a Bingo book. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you want from me?"

**"I am Zetsu,"** spoke a darker voice than the first, and Kakuzu blanched as he realized that the different colors of Zetsu were really separate personalities, **"and I am here to make you an offer."**

"What technique was that? I couldn't even sense your chakra."

"That was my – **Shut up fool!"** hissed the black side. **"Leader-sama said to tell him what he needs to know, not every detail. He does not need to know what our abilities are."**

Kakuzu stared, the mere act of watching two halves of the same person argue with himself allowing him to drop his guard slightly. It also did not appear as if this…ninja…was looking to fight him. He cleared his throat. "You mentioned an offer; I will hear you out."

"Thank you Kakuzu-san," said the white-half politically. "Have you heard of a group known as 'Akatsuki'?"

"I have not."

**"A shame then, but to be expected."**

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. "What is 'Akatsuki'?"

"We are a group of S-class missing-nin, much like you, working towards a united goal of world domination," Zetsu explained diplomatically. Kakuzu could already tell that White Zetsu was more cordial and easier to deal with than Black Zetsu.

Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow. "How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Have you heard of the Bijū or the term 'Jinchūriki'?"

"I have heard rumors of the Bijū, Tailed Beasts of enormous power, and of Jinchūriki, human hosts with these creatures inside of them, but I do not know much else beyond that. I admit that I did not find it overly pertinent to trifle with such matters myself. " Kakuzu thought he heard Zetsu's black side scoff. "However, I have heard recently that my home village created a Jinchūriki, but I have not yet taken the time to confirm this information."

**"Interesting," **Zetsu mused,** "we have not heard of Takigakure's creation of a Jinchūriki; that will need to be looked into. However, the other rumors you have heard are accurate. There are nine Bijū, ranging from the Ichibi – the One-Tail – to the Kyūbi – the Nine-Tails, most of which are sealed into humans known as 'Jinchūriki'. These humans are generally granted some form of power from their demon, have the capability to access the Bijū's chakra, and can normally be identified by some physical trait of their Bijū. It is Akatsuki's desire to capture and extract the power of each Bijū in order to attain our goal."**

"I doubt that you would just choose S-class criminals at random to join your organization. What part would I play in this?"

**"…He is much smarter than I gave him credit for,"** commented the black-half to the white-half. "Yes, very," the white side responded. "Akatsuki requires a decent amount of funds in order to run properly. Your career choice as a bounty hunter would prove useful in this respect, as well as the multitude of contacts we're sure you have accumulated over the years. **Also, whispers of your power abound if you know where to listen. Your ability to use multiple elements in conjunction with your analytical prowess would be a great asset in the capture of the Bijū and success within Akatsuki."**

It appeared to Kakuzu that Zetsu was done talking, and so the two stared at each, Kakuzu's gaze glassy as he thought over the proposition. A year ago, he would have had no reason to not accept the offer; world domination, a wide array of powerful allies with a common goal, not to mention the money he could get from the alliance…

A vision of Naruto, the blonde-haired brat with strange abilities and great potential appeared before his eyes. He focused on Zetsu and calmly stated, "I apologize, but I am afraid that I have to decline your offer. For the moment, my priorities have changed. While I have no problem attempting to form a mutually beneficial relationship with Akatsuki, I am uninterested in membership at this time."

**"Very well," **muttered the black side, **"but keep your information for now. We will contact you at a later time to work out the details. Perhaps then you will be interested in our offer."**

"And how will I know who is Akatsuki?"

Zetsu's black side sneered. **"Anyone wearing this black cloak with red clouds is a member of Akatsuki; the dawning of a new age, red with blood. **It's rather poetic, isn't it?" finished Zetsu's white-half with a smile. With that, Zetsu melted back into the ground and Kakuzu was left to continue his journey with new thoughts in mind…but one in particular.

_Bijū and Jinchūriki, hm? Interesting._

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: (EDITED 9/14/10)** Wow...holy crap guys. I had no idea when I posted this that it would receive such a good reception. Waking up Sunday morning to find 40 emails related to Author/Story Alerts/Favorites really made my morning. I had close to 200 hits within the first 9 hours (during which I was sleeping, but whatever), and continued to get notifications throughout the day. Thanks to all of you, especially those who reviewed. If you had any concerns, I did try to address those.

About the chapter: I apologize for how...bland...this one is. I know that it's not the most exciting read, but I believe it was necessary to set up an idea of what Naruto will be going through a little bit. Kakuzu's a no-nonsense kinda guy (even if he does grudgingly put up with Hidan), and it seems that dealing with an incompetent partner/apprentice would be something he couldn't stand...hence the complete training from scratch. Also, Naruto's 5, and completely hated by the village...so it's not like he knows a lot with respect to any "normal" scholarly stuff.

Someone asked something about Akatsuki in a review (sorry that I don't remember who)...I hope that explained a little bit of what their role will be for now. I do have plans for Akatsuki, but they won't come to fruition for awhile. Zetsu is shitloads of fun to write for, however. Seriously.

Last thing: I ended up losing my notebook with ALL of my writing stuff in it, including this story. The story lost a couple chapters (I think I condensed them, but whatever), and so will be about 25 chapters instead of 30.


	3. Bounty

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

"Listen brat," Kakuzu began one day during Naruto's morning exercises, "you are old enough now –" (here, Naruto inwardly wondered how many other people considered 8 'old enough') – "to start pulling your own weight. I am going to teach you how to engage in the world's oldest profession…"

Naruto raised a hand and opened his mouth to ask exactly what that was, but Kakuzu's glare silenced him.

"…Killing." Naruto could tell from the manic glint in his teacher's eyes that he was grinning beneath the mask. He gulped slightly, the prospect of following in Kakuzu's footsteps a somewhat foreboding one. Kakuzu noticed the movement and reigned in his bloodlust. "What is your problem, brat? As a ninja, you would have to kill eventually; that goes double for missing-nin, who hunt and are hunted alike."

"I'm only 8-years-old. Aren't I a little young to be doing this?"

Teacher stared at protégé momentarily before deigning to respond. "Naruto," began Kakuzu, voice deep and throaty. The blonde came to attention, Kakuzu's use of his name a clear indication that this was a serious conversation. "I have spent a lifetime engaged in this trade. I have watched over your growth in the past several years, and have so far taught you the basics of the ninja life. Now it is time to get serious. You will begin to train in elemental ninjutsu, and when I deem you ready, _and only then_, will I send you out. Do you understand?"

Naruto nodded in acceptance, observing the small twitch of the bridge of Kakuzu's nose that indicated he was smirking. "Good. We shall begin with the basics of bounty hunting.

"The guidelines for hunting other ninja are really quite simple. There are basically no rules for how the deed is done, but you _must_ return the whole body to whatever collection station you go to."

"Why?" asked Naruto, confusion painted across his face. "I mean, can't you just cut off the head and bring that? That should be enough proof that you killed him, right?"

The bounty hunter nodded in agreement. "For any other profession, that would be correct. However, most of the bounties are placed by a missing-nin's home village in order to regain any secrets his body may contain. The secrets of Bloodline Limits and Clan Techniques are a valuable commodity to most villages, and they require the body intact in order to properly dispose of any secrets it may contain."

"…I think I get it," Naruto said slowly. "Like, if someone killed you, Takigakure would want your body whole in order to get that thread-thingy back, right? Hey, what is that? And why did you leave anyway?"

"…" Naruto watched a sliver of emotion pass over Kakuzu's face before he turned around, arm flashing forward briefly and then falling back to his side. "…I will tell you when you are older. That is all for now. We will begin your ninjutsu training tomorrow," Kakuzu bit out before stalking off.

Naruto waited until Kakuzu was gone before running in the direction in which Kakuzu had turned. Buried up to its hilt in a tree 100 feet away was a kunai. Naruto gulped and mentally noted to not bring up Kakuzu's past for a long time.

-l-l-l-

Naruto woke up early the next day and began his morning exercises, silently wondering where Kakuzu was. His teacher had not returned after leaving the training spot the previous day, and Naruto was silently worried that something might have happened to him.

About two hours later, Naruto paused in his training as he sensed the approach of someone. He sent out his chakra and felt out the signature, relaxing when Kakuzu's overwhelming chakra greeted his own. He straightened from his fighting stance and looked in the direction he had sensed Kakuzu's approach, waiting for his teacher to make an appearance.

He didn't wait long. After several minutes, Kakuzu appeared, looking none the worse for wear. When he was close enough, Naruto noted that several splotches of blood covered Kakuzu's normally impeccable cloak, and there were several pink spots in his normally white head covering. Naruto knew better than to ask, and so remained silent as Kakuzu finished his trek and stood solidly in front of him. "Brat," Kakuzu greeted, "what have you done so far?"

Naruto grinned, the tension from the previous day dissipating. "Just my morning exercises so far. You said we'd start doing elemental ninjutsu training today," he reminded.

Kakuzu grunted noncommittally in response. "Relax brat, we shall begin that training momentarily. First, however, a brief review." Naruto groaned in response to this, and Kakuzu ignored him. "So far, you have learned some fundamental ninjutsu, including the _**Kawarimi, Henge, **_and _**Shunshin**_. Your inability to utilize the _**Bunshin**_ technique is rather unusual but is of little consequence.

"Now your real training will begin. Older and more experienced ninja will not be taken down by your pathetic repertoire of techniques. As such, I will begin to teach you to how to properly use elemental chakra. If you remember, you have a _**Fūton**_ affinity, meaning that you are more easily able to utilize wind chakra. Do you understand?" Kakuzu asked, glancing at the blonde. Naruto nodded quickly, his face a picture of excitement. "Good…now, allow me to demonstrate."

Kakuzu mentally concentrated on the _**Fūton **_chakra located within one of the masks on his back. "Watch," he commanded. He went through several hand seals, ending on Ram. "_**Fūton: Atsugai**_; Wind Release: Pressure Damage," he intoned. A condensed sphere of wind formed in front of his mouth before he released it into the trees, shredding everything in its path.

The gales were so fierce that Naruto was forced to shield his eyes as they started tearing up. He squinted in the direction of the attack, and after a minute was finally able to lower his arm and gaze upon the destruction in a mixture of awe and fear. Trees were uprooted and torn asunder for up to 100 yards in a wide path about 50 yards across. Naruto gazed at Kakuzu with renewed respect. "Are you going to teach me that?" the blonde hyped, slack-jawed.

Kakuzu merely surveyed the damage with a neutral expression. "Perhaps in the future, when I deem you ready," he answered finally. "In the meantime –" here, Kakuzu bent down a picked up a leaf from the ground, "—your main focus will be using your chakra to cut this leaf in two pieces." Naruto groaned as Kakuzu proceeded to slice the leaf neatly in half while it was held in the palm of his hand. He then gestured to the ground, indicating that Naruto should pick a leaf and begin, before turning around and walking away, leaving Naruto staring despondently at the object in his hand. He sighed and covered one hand with the other, focusing all of his attention on cutting the leaf.

Kakuzu watched from afar as Naruto struggled to slice the leaf with just his chakra. He could sense the frustration within his apprentice, but simply smirked to himself. _It appears I made a good decision in taking him with me_, he thought as he turned away.

-l-l-l-

A year passed, during which Naruto slowly learned how to access and manipulate nature chakra. By about eight months he could successfully split the leaf in half with minimal effort, and Kakuzu nodded his head in acknowledgment of this feat. Naruto grinned broadly in accomplishment.

From that day forward, Kakuzu had begun to teach him some basic _**Fūton**_ techniques. After Naruto had split the leaf, Kakuzu had explained why he was able to; wind chakra was quite malleable, capable of being shaped to be as sharp, thin, dull, or blunt as the wielder desired. By applying his chakra to the leaf, Naruto was teaching himself how to use his elemental chakra alone to cut something.

Those four months had been rather brutal on Naruto. Ever since he could access chakra – including using elemental chakra – Kakuzu had become an even harsher taskmaster. Naruto used the mornings to do basic calisthenics, followed by light sparring with his teacher in the late morning into the early afternoon. After that, he practiced perfecting any ninjutsu Kakuzu had him currently working on. The cycle continued like that until the end of the year period from when Naruto began the leaf exercise, with breaks popping up whenever Kakuzu went on assignment.

Then, one fateful morning, Kakuzu surprised him.

"Come on brat," he said, "we are going on a trip."

Naruto rose from bed groggily, asking, "Where are we going, Kakuzu-sensei?" Naruto had learned that the reason the bounty hunter only wanted to be called by his name – with no honorifics – was because he hated the reference to being considered "old". The blonde used it as a way to irritate his teacher; the only downside was that Kakuzu – more often than not – retaliated. Still somewhat tired, Naruto only managed to partially dodge the fist aimed for his head.

"I told you not to call me that, brat!" Kakuzu growled. "As for your other question…we are leaving for Lightning Country. There are rumors of a rogue Kumo-nin around, and the best way to learn anything is by example.

"We're going bounty hunting," he finished with a smirk.

It took five days for the duo to reach the border of Lightning Country. Naruto was a bit tired by the end of the journey – Kakuzu had kept them moving at a steady pace with minimal sleep, stating that it was best to get there early so no one else could take the bounty. "Stay watchful and be careful," Kakuzu cautioned his pupil. "This man is a Jōnin, and you are still learning simple moves."

Naruto nodded in understanding. Kakuzu was just being protective of him, even if he'd never admit it.

It took the better part of the day before the pair managed to find a clue. The embers of a hastily put out campfire was the duo's first solid lead. Kakuzu had them follow the trail for several hours before stopping for a short rest. After that, teacher and student began moving again, finding more signs of activity. Kakuzu told Naruto that fear was driving the shinobi to be sloppy in his movements. Naruto figured Kakuzu took some sort of sadistic pleasure in knowing that.

They ended up stumbling upon the renegade about mid-morning the sixth day. He possessed unkempt crimson hair and narrow honey eyes, clothed in the standard Jōnin outfit of Kumogakure. He stood up as Kakuzu approached, taking a defensive stance. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Kumogakure has demanded that you be caught dead or alive," Kakuzu stated neutrally, ignoring the question. "I intend to fulfill that desire." That said Kakuzu quickly formed several seals. "_**Fūton: Atsugai**_; Wind Release: Pressure Damage." Naruto watched as the condensed sphere of wind was dodged, but Kakuzu kept up the assault – apparently, Kakuzu could control whether or not the wind expanded into torrential gusts after it was launched.

Naruto observed the battle from afar, clearly impressed with Kakuzu's talent. The bounty hunter stuck with using wind element tactics throughout the battle, for both Naruto's sake and the fact that his opponent had lightning nature chakra. He engaged in a short-lived, brutal taijutsu match with the missing-nin, before using a _**Fūton**_ technique Naruto had not yet been taught to slice neatly into the Kumo-nin's body, killing him instantly.

Kakuzu motioned for Naruto to come closer; a bright slash of red stained his dark cloak. "You need to get used to and accept the sight of the dead," Kakuzu stated emotionlessly. Naruto stared at the body, feeling nothing. The Kumo-nin meant nothing to him except as a means to make a living, and he realized suddenly that this was Kakuzu's intent all along – to both desensitize him to the death of other ninja and show him why it was necessary. He admired Kakuzu's handiwork for another minute before looking up at his instructor. Kakuzu nodded. "Good. Now come on," he ordered. "We have a long trek ahead of us and I forgot to bring a sealing scroll, which means we have to carry him." Kakuzu grabbed the dead renegade, slinging him over his back before starting to walk, his apprentice following not far behind.

-l-l-l-

Ten-year-old Naruto leapt from treetop to treetop in an attempt to catch his quarry. The year following Kakuzu's brutal capture of the former Kumo-nin, Naruto had been even more devoted to training than he had previously. It had taken a year – mostly because Kakuzu had disappeared for long periods of time twice – until the bounty hunter deemed his pupil ready for his first mission.

_Three days earlier, Kakuzu had walked into the tent and kicked Naruto awake. When Naruto opened his eyes, Kakuzu growled, "It is time," before departing the tent. The blonde quickly dressed and followed his mentor out._

_ "Time for what?" he asked, confused._

_ Kakuzu turned to look at him. "Your initiation," responded the hunter. "You should be strong enough to take down a low-level Chūnin, so now I am putting you to the test." The tall man pulled out a photograph and held it up so Naruto could see. The man in the photo had short brown hair and strange golden irises. A forehead protector emblazoned with the mark of Kusagakure – the Village Hidden in Grass – kept back his longer bangs._

_ "This is Takashi," Kakuzu continued. "He was a contact of mine within Kusagakure, but was recently kicked out for siphoning funds from the government. A man after my own hearts," he said. If Naruto didn't know better, he would've thought Kakuzu sighed dreamily at that, but let it go. "His usefulness to me has become nonexistent thanks to this, and your mission is to kill him and bring his body back to me. He is only a Chūnin with basic skills, so the capture should be easy, but do not be stupid. Here is a scroll for you to bring the body back in," Kakuzu added, tossing him the object._

_ Naruto caught the scroll, followed by the second one Kakuzu threw immediately after. "What's this one?"_

_ "Open it," Kakuzu replied gruffly. Naruto unfurled the scroll and set it on the ground, performing a quick hand seal before slamming one open palm on the ground. Naruto heard a brief 'poof' and waited for the small cloud of smoke to disperse before looking at the contents. A pair of black cargo pants, a long-sleeved charcoal grey shirt, and a dark blue vest with multiple pockets lay on the ground on front of him._

_ "For all intents and purposes, you are now a Genin," Kakuzu explained. "As such, you will wear appropriate ninja attire and carry equipment with you at all times." When Naruto looked up with tears in his eyes, Kakuzu turned away. "Get rid of those tears, brat. I did it for my reputation as well as yours, not because I care. Now get changed and get out of here before you try to hug me and I kill you for it."_

Naruto had changed and quickly left after that remark; he did not doubt that Kakuzu would carry through with his threat, even if it seemed like Naruto couldn't really die thanks to his supposed _kekkei genkai_.

Unfortunately, the mission had so far not gone nearly as smoothly as Naruto had hoped. The minute he had come within a quarter mile of his quarry on the border of Grass and Earth Countries, Takashi had quickly fled, moving west towards Bird Country. That had been almost three days ago. Predator and prey had steadily passed through Bird Country and into another small nation; all the while, Naruto had been triggering Takashi's traps, tripwires, and exploding tags.

The blonde was thankful for his amazing stamina though. Constant movement and chakra expenditure for several days was no mean feat, and he was sure Takashi was using pills to stagger on. The chase couldn't last much longer.

After another 20 minutes of tree-jumping, Naruto landed in an open field, a huge, foreboding dark castle in front of him. He looked around but saw no one, so decided to approach the castle. He opened the giant door and stepped through, taking a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the gloom. The door swung close with an ominous sound, and Naruto ducked to avoid the shuriken that were thrown from the darkness. They embedded themselves in the solid wood of the door, and Naruto inspected them briefly before muttering dryly, "Well, I guess he's here."

"W-who are you, and what d-do you want with me?" stammered a terrified voice from the dark.

"I am," began Naruto, "…your executioner." He paused briefly, a bright smile lighting up his face. "I've wanted to say that for so long!"

"You sound like a kid," came the voice again, this time closer and more confident. Naruto looked up and saw Takashi on the second floor, leaning over the railing. His brown hair was unkempt and dirty, and his golden eyes glinted strangely from within sunken skin. "You _are_ just a kid!" he exclaimed. Then he began laughing. "They sent a kid to take me out? Oh, that's rich!" He was stopped abruptly as a shuriken made a small cut on his cheek.

"Next one won't miss," Naruto promised. "Kakuzu wanted you taken out, and I'm gonna do it."

Takashi suddenly grew serious. "Kakuzu? And he sent _you_ after me? He's severely underestimating me," he finished with a laugh. The rogue Kusa-nin then leapt from the balcony straight towards Naruto, kunai in hand.

Naruto reached into one of his pockets and pulled out several shuriken. He threw them deftly with his right hand before performing hand seals. "_**Fūton: Reppūshō**_," he muttered, "Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm." He held out both hands – palms forward – and a gust wind rushed from them, propelling the shuriken forward at a much faster velocity.

Takashi angled his neck slightly, letting the shuriken pass right by him. "Ha! Is that all you've got kid? You'll need more than that to defeat…me?" A spurt of blood erupted from his neck, and the missing-nin dropped to the floor, hand clasped to the wound. "What…you do…?" he gurgled.

Naruto walked up to him, making sure to stay far enough away that he wouldn't be caught off guard by any tricks. He held up his right hand, the one that had grabbed the shuriken. Attached to three of his fingers were thin, nearly invisible strands of ninja wire. "These were attached to the shuriken I threw at you. Ninja wire is pretty good at conducting chakra, so I channeled my wind chakra through the wires into the shuriken. Even though you dodged the actual weapon, the extension of wind meant that you weren't getting away from me," he explained.

The blonde watched as Takashi struggled to say something and failed, the light fading from his eyes. "Hmm, I suppose I was lucky. I wasn't even sure that would work. And a nice catch with the jugular," he congratulated himself. Naruto removed the scroll Kakuzu had given him from his back and opened it on the floor. "Time to seal this puppy and get out of here."

"DEVOUR."

"Eh?" The 10-year-old turned around, confused.

Then the tongues erupted from everywhere.

Naruto had to back-flip quickly to avoid being hit by one of the tongues. Another one tried to hit him and he ducked quickly. A third tongue scooped up the corpse of Takashi and swallowed it into an open doorway. "HEY!" Naruto protested violently. "He's mine!"

The distraction cost him. One tongue flailed wildly and caught the boy a hard blow upside the head, knocking him out. It rolled Naruto in its grasp and disappeared from where it came, along with all the others. The room was left empty and silent, a splatter of blood on the floor the only sign of disturbance.

"DEVOUR."

-l-l-l-

"Oooohh…"

Naruto blearily opened his eyes, grasping his head with both hands as a searing pain rent through his skull. "What hit me?" He slowly sat up, looking around as he did so. He appeared to be in some sort of fleshy hallway that extended in both directions endlessly. The only things he appeared to be missing were the sealing scroll and…

"…Crap. Now I have to find that stupid body." He looked left and right, opting to go left. "I hope I chose the right way," he grumbled, setting off on the path.

It took half an hour, but he finally came across Takashi's corpse, nestled in a small crook in the fleshy wall. "Finally," he sighed. Naruto walked up to the wall and took out a kunai, digging into the wall binding his bounty.

"DEVOUR."

Naruto turned around at that voice, wary. Last time, tongues had shot out of the walls…he wasn't taking any chances.

A pale green mist began to emanate from the wall behind him, and Naruto, curious, threw his kunai at it. It promptly melted, and Naruto blanched. "Acid! Oh, come on!" He brought out another kunai and applied wind chakra, lengthening it and sharpening the blade. He cut swiftly through the fleshy wall, and Takashi's dead weight fell completely upon him. He shoved it off and chanced a glance behind him, noticing the acid hovering mere feet away. Panicked, the blonde clasped his hands together and threw them both at a 45 degree angle to his body, shouting, "_**Fūton: Reppūshō!"**_ The acid was blown away a decent distance due to the amount of chakra thrown into the technique, but began advancing again quickly.

_Plan B_, Naruto thought. _Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, Snake!_ _**"Fūton: Daitoppa; **_Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" he yelled, pointing his hands up at the ceiling. A large blast of wind – sharper, denser and stronger than the Violent Wind Palm – flew from them, hitting the ceiling and cutting a circular tunnel out. Naruto immediately picked up Takashi bridal-styleand jumped, arriving on the first floor of the castle before the hole slowly closed behind him.

Naruto panted in a mixture of fear and exhaustion, quickly locating the scroll he had left behind earlier and sealing the Kusa-nin's body into it. He picked up the scroll in time to observe a man walk out from one of the doorways leading to another room. He wore dark pants, a light grey long-sleeved shirt with a red breastplate over it and green shoulder guards, as well as a tall blue helmet that tied under his chin. "What the – ?" began Naruto as the man walked past him. The man was suddenly surrounded by an ethereal blue glow, and Naruto fell silent as he walked slowly up the stairs. The blonde, entranced, strapped the scroll with Takashi's body to his back and inexplicably followed the other man upstairs.

After several flights of stairs, Naruto arrived at what he surmised to be one of the towers. He blinked rapidly and looked around, realizing the man was no longer in front of him. "Well, time to go…" he started before spying something on the other side of the room. "Hm? What's this?"

On an altar was seated an aged-looking scroll, which Naruto promptly unrolled. Across the top and bottom was a border of some type of lizard, what kind Naruto couldn't specify. The middle portion contained names and the fingerprints of people imprinted in dried blood. He stared at the scroll blankly until something Kakuzu had once told him caused a wide grin to split his face.

_"Some ninja have the ability to summon animals to assist them in a fight," Kakuzu had lectured. "These ninja are normally part of a clan who has a contract that they keep throughout the generations, and when their members are old enough, they are allowed to sign the contract and summon the animals in a method similar to summoning weapons from a scroll. For instance, each of Konoha's Sannin – Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru – has the Summoning Contract for toads, slugs, and snakes, and the leader of Amegakure can summon salamanders. Of course, Summoning Contracts are rather rare, so I do not expect you to have to deal with them often, if at all."_

Kakuzu had never mentioned summoning again because they had never had a situation arise where they needed to talk about it. But this looked like one of those Summoning Contracts he was talking about!

"DEVOUR." With that word, acid began to seep from the walls into the small room.

Naruto didn't even think. He quickly bit his index finger and wrote his name in the next blank spot on the paper, following it up by biting the rest of the digits on his right hand and pressing the appendage to the page. "STOP!" he shouted, eyes closed tightly.

It took a second for the acid mist to stop advancing and slowly begin dissipating. Ten seconds later, the room was clear. Naruto opened his eyes. "Um…good," he said, surprised. "Now…go away." There was a small delay, followed by a rather loud 'pop' and a cloud of smoke, leaving Naruto suspended hundreds of feet in the air, scroll in front of him. "AH!" he screamed, body plummeting towards the ground. _**"Fūton: Reppūshō!"**_ he shouted, aiming his hands at the ground. The Violent Wind Palm slowed down his descent and he released the technique 10 feet above the ground, landing nimbly on his feet. He plopped to the ground with a sigh, summoning scroll in front of him.

Naruto exhaled heavily, the day's events catching up to him. "What a day," he muttered. He stood up and picked up the contract, tying both ends to a piece of rope he had on him. He then slung the scroll over his back, where it knocked against the one with Takashi's body. "Wait until Kakuzu sees this haul." Naruto walked toward the tree line at a sedate pace; upon reaching it, he jumped for a low branch and disappeared into the foliage, leaving Neck Country far behind.

-l-l-l-

It took four days to return to Onanji, the blonde moving at a rather sedate pace after his harrowing adventure. When Naruto found Kakuzu training at their usual spot in the late morning, the bounty hunter looked severely disgruntled. "You have been gone longer than I anticipated," Kakuzu noted with practiced blandness.

Naruto reached back and rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. "Eh heheh, Takashi led me on quite a chase…and his hiding spot proved to be a huge danger itself. Here's his body," he added, removing the scroll with the Kusa-nin sealed inside.

"Good," Kakuzu stated, taking the scroll from his pupil. "That is one less headache I have to take care of." Then his eyes caught sight of the other object strapped to Naruto's back. "Why do you have an extra scroll?" he demanded.

Naruto tried to fight back a wide grin but failed. "Oh, this?" he asked coyly. "Just something I found on the trip. I was hoping you'd be able to explain it more clearly."

Kakuzu quirked an eyebrow as his apprentice removed the scroll from his back and laid it on the ground, unrolling it slowly. His eyes widened slightly when he saw what it was, but he quickly schooled his features back into a neutral expression. "It appears that you have stumbled across the long-lost Chameleon Summoning Contract of the Kubisaki Clan."

The blonde boy bounced excitedly on his heels. _It really is a Summoning Contract!_ "I found it in an old castle that tried to eat me after chasing Takashi for three days," he told his teacher. Kakuzu digested the information and then nodded.

"Takashi must have led you into Neck Country. Fifty years ago, the Kubisaki Clan, who ruled over the land there, was deeply embroiled in a war with their enemies. Outnumbered, they were forced to retreat into their castle. It has been rumored that Kubisaki Kouza, the Clan Leader notorious for his chameleon-like techniques, summoned a giant beast before his death, telling it to destroy anyone that dared enter his domain. Those people were never heard from again...though the Kubisaki Clan has also never been heard from either."

"Well, that explains the repetitive 'devour' I kept hearing," Naruto mumbled. "So, how does this thing work?" he asked loudly. "I signed it 'cause I was in a bit of a bind, but I don't really know how to use it. Can you teach me?"

The bounty hunter snorted. "Boy, I am almost a hundred years old…there is little I do not know. As I told you before, summoners have a blood-link with a specific animal that they can call upon to aid in battle. The amount of ninja who use summons is small though, since a lot of the more useful ones require a lot of chakra; not that you have a problem with that," Kakuzu added dryly.

"The Summoning Technique is called _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_. The hand seals are: Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, and Ram. You will need to use some blood with the technique, so most ninja tend to bite their thumb before they perform the signs. Then, you just need to place your palm on a solid surface, and call the summon you want."

When Kakuzu didn't continue, Naruto asked, "Is that it?"

Kakuzu shot him an annoyed look. "Would I not tell you if there was more? Now, practice."

Naruto bit his thumb hard enough to break skin and performed the required seals. "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_; Summoning Technique!" he yelled, slamming his palm to the ground. The inky whirl of a seal spread out from his palm, and a poof of smoke accompanied it before a tiny chameleon, no longer than Naruto's finger appeared. Naruto stared at it blankly while Kakuzu fought down an uncharacteristic roar of laughter.

"You obviously need more practice," Kakuzu said as the lizard disappeared in another poof of smoke. "I shall return later on."

Dusk had fallen by the time Naruto made any headway on the new technique. As sweat dripped down his face, Naruto performed the seals once more and panted, "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"**_

When the smoke cleared, a small chameleon – roughly the size of Naruto's forearm – stood in front of him on all fours. He was a bright green color, a few white spots sprinkled over his body, and a cylindrical brown container strapped to his back under his belly. His tongue flicked out experimentally, his left eye focusing on Kakuzu standing ten feet away, right eye staring at Naruto. "What is it?" he demanded haughtily, voice shrill with youth.

For his part, Naruto stood there, completely flabbergasted. Finally he gasped, "I did it!" He laughed heartily before blinking stupidly. "Wait…you talked?"

The lizard scoffed at him, focusing his left eye on Naruto as well. "Of course I can talk. My name is Kamesata, and I'm a messenger chameleon." He eyed Naruto carefully, and Naruto repressed a shudder as both eyes went in different directions. "Whaddya want?" he repeated.

Kakuzu chose that moment to step in. "Kamesata, inform the one in charge that Naruto would like to speak to him."

Kamesata's left eye swiveled back to Kakuzu and appraised him quietly. "Fine," he agreed finally. "I'll let ojiisan know he's wanted. Didn't even get a long time back," he grumbled quietly. With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Naruto," Kakuzu began, "you will need a lot of chakra for this. Collect as much as you can and push it all into the technique. First, follow me." Kakuzu took off into the woods, Naruto following until the bounty hunter stopped in a clearing Naruto identified as the place where the _**Fūton: Atsugai**_ technique had been demonstrated two years prior. "We are far enough from the village and it is dark enough that there should not be too much of a disturbance."

Naruto nodded in compliance and closed his eyes to collect what little chakra he had remaining. _More_, he thought, _still more_.

_Deep within Naruto's mindscape, an eye – pupil slit and red – the size of a grown man opened. The creature to which it belonged released a deep chuckle. "__**YOU NEED CHAKRA, EH KIT? VERY WELL…I SHALL COMPLY…FOR NOW.**__" The eye closed again, but a foul red chakra emanated from the creature and disappeared into the mindscape._

Naruto was already part-way through the hand seals when he became shrouded in an orange-red chakra. Kakuzu's eyes narrowed slightly, but he did nothing else as Naruto slammed his palm on the ground and roared, "_**KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!**_"

A whirlwind of wind and smoke exploded under where Naruto stood, and when it cleared, he was standing a hundred feet off the ground. The creature Naruto had summoned was massive, easily as tall as the castle Naruto had been in earlier, and several times as long, including the curled tail. Its skin was a mottled green, each foot possessing wickedly sharp claws; the head was decorated with three horns: two smaller ones – twenty feet long – between its eyes, and a forty foot one protruding from its snout. "KOUZA?" asked the chameleon, voice coarse like sandpaper and distinctly masculine. His eyes swiveled all around, finally focusing upwards, where Naruto stood in the middle of the triangle of horns. "NO…YOU'RE NOT EVEN A KUBISAKI. WHO ARE YOU, BOY?"

Naruto gulped. "M-my name's Uzumaki Naruto, sir, and I'm the n-newest summoner."

The chameleon grumbled, "KAMESATA COULD HAVE AT LEAST MENTIONED THAT. I AM SHIROMARI, THE CHAMELEON BOSS. FOR WHAT REASON HAVE YOU SUMMONED ME, UZUMAKI NARUTO?"

The blonde looked at Kakuzu helplessly, who sighed in defeat. "I asked that you be summoned, Shiromari-sama," the hunter stated with a bow. "I felt that my pupil should take the time to become properly acquainted with the leader of his new potential partners."

Shiromari watched Kakuzu with one eye and kept the other on Naruto. After a long moment – which included Kakuzu standing completely stationary and Naruto fidgeting restlessly – the chameleon grunted. "SINCE YOU HAVE THE CONTRACT, I PRESUME THAT IT WAS YOU WHO SAVED ME FROM THAT WRETCHED EXISTENCE KOUZA TRAPPED ME IN. FOR THAT, I AM GRATEFUL. MY FAMILY AND MYSELF OWE YOU A GREAT DEBT, UZUMAKI NARUTO…WE ARE HUMBLY AT YOUR SERVICE."

"Really? Cool!"

The Chameleon Boss eyed him for a moment. "YES…WELL THEN. IF YOU DON'T MIND, I'D LIKE TO SEE MY FAMILY…LOTS OF CATCHING UP TO DO, YOU UNDERSTAND. DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE, UZUMAKI NARUTO. WE, THE CHAMELEON TRIBE OF THE BANKAKYU FOREST, WILL RESPOND." Then Shiromari disappeared in the same poof of smoke and whirlwind he had appeared in and Naruto fell to the ground.

Kakuzu caught him just before he impacted. "Do not say I have never done anything for you, Uzumaki Naruto," he grouched, the subject of his ire resting sleepily against his back. _Damn brat causes so much fucking trouble…_

Naruto floated on the border between consciousness and sleep, the week's events finally catching up to his 10-year-old body. As darkness overtook his vision, the blonde had one last thought:

_Was…there a voice in my head right before I summoned Shiromari-sama?_

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: (EDITED 9/14/10)** Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It's kind of amazing to have so many people actually interested in this story. One reviewer pointed out to me that Kakuzu is a natural Earth Element user from the last chapter (when I detailed the chakra paper). I responded to him or her, but I'll put this out here for everyone else: as far as I am aware (and I consider myself a rather LARGE Narutard), Kakuzu's elemental affinity is unknown, though it is either Water or Earth (I assume the other 3 masks he uses are not his original heart). Based off of the site that I use for all my Naruto information (which is really accurate), the fact that Kakuzu is Hidden Waterfall, the fact that he never uses Earth Spear again after the first heart is destroyed (despite never using a Water Element in the manga), and the fact that he actually uses Water Element in the anime after being Raikiri'd, I'm making him a Water Element. It really doesn't affect the story that much, I just feel like pointing that out.

Points about this chapter: 1) Naruto's initiation: Naruto is now 10, and has been trained by Kakuzu for 5 years (or so). Taking into account the fact that he was underestimated, he got extremely lucky, and he was fighting a useless Chuunin, I think the quick death was rather plausible, especially in comparison to some of the other stuff I've seen on this site. Please let me know what you think though. 2) Naruto's moves: his Wind techniques are still rather basic, and will improve over time, as will the rest of his repertoire...and I am flat-out refusing to give him Kage Bunshin...Kakuzu has no reason to use it, and therefore no reason to teach it, so I'm going to expand on Naruto's moves and skillset by NOT giving him it. Also, Naruto has no reason to get in contact with Jiraiya, and barring the whole "he's my godson", Jiraiya has no reason to give him the Toad Contract. So I opted for something different. I know kind of what I want to do with the chameleons, so you'll see them in some battles. Hopefully I didn't disappoint there either.

Feel free to let me know what you all think in a review!


	4. History

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

"_**YOU NEED CHAKRA, EH KIT? VERY WELL…I SHALL COMPLY…FOR NOW.**__"_

_The statement seemed to echo in Naruto's dream, chilling him down to his very core. It had repeated every so often, like a haunting memory that Naruto couldn't quite place but knew he had heard before, the voice familiar, and yet not at the same time. There was something about the voice that bothered him, but the 10-year-old couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was…just that it seemed to radiate hatred and evil._

"_**DAMNABLE SEAL. YOU'RE LUCKY I CAN'T TAKE CONTROL RIGHT NOW, KIT.**__"_

_Naruto looked around in search of the owner of this voice, but all he saw was an unending darkness. The last thing he could remember…was talking to Shiromari-sama. The giant chameleon had told Naruto to call upon him in a time of need, and then…nothing._

I must have passed out, _Naruto deduced. _But that doesn't explain what's going on here.

_Naruto noticed that his dream seemed to lighten, casting just enough light to illuminate where he was. He seemed to be standing in several inches of water in what – his nose told him – must have been a sewer. A massive wrought-iron gate stood in front of him, and Naruto took a small step forward in order to read the word 'Seal' on a piece of paper high above him. The blonde looked around, but noting nothing else, turned his attention back to the gate._

_Suddenly, two blood-red eyes opened wide, accompanied by the wide, feral maw of some beast behind the gate. "__**LET ME OUT!**__" roared the creature, leaking out enough killer intent to make Naruto scream._

"AH!" Naruto shot up, instinctively grabbing for the kunai he normally kept by his bed and bringing it defensively to his chest. Kakuzu chose that moment to stroll in through the door – _the door?_ wondered Naruto absently – and loom ominously over the bed. "…You look rather stupid in that position with nothing in your hand," he commented idly.

Naruto realized that the kunai he had attempted to grab was nothing but air, and so he lowered his arm and sat up further in the bed – _a real bed!_ He grasped the blanket in one hand, running his hand over the soft padding of the mattress underneath as if to confirm that it was real. "Where are we?" Naruto asked.

"Not important. What happened?"

"It is important," Naruto insisted. "And I could ask you the same thing: what happened?"

The two made eye contact for a solid minute before Kakuzu made a breathy sound that Naruto took to be a sigh of resignation. "I rented a room for a night so you could recover. You exhausted your chakra practicing _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_ yesterday, especially by summoning the Chameleon Boss. You have been asleep for almost a day. Now, _what happened_?" he demanded.

The blonde was quiet as he collected his thoughts. "I want a sword," he said with finality.

"There is no basis for you needing a sword, nor a reason for bringing it up," Kakuzu replied curtly.

"But think about it! How kick-ass would I be if I had a sword?" he rambled. "I could –"

"Your non-sequitur bores me and evades my question," interrupted the older ninja smoothly. "_Tell me what happened."_

Naruto thought about lying to avoid the subject, but then decided against it. Kakuzu could be rather intimidating when he chose, and his ire seemed to be rising. "When I summoned Shiromari-sama," he began slowly, "I thought I heard a voice in my head. It said something about me needing chakra, and that it would comply for now. Then…" Naruto shrugged, "I was able to summon Shiromari-sama."

Kakuzu began moving steadily around the room, a movement that Naruto would have described as pacing if it weren't for the fact that Kakuzu _never_ paced. He seemed to be muttering something to himself, and Naruto caught the words 'seal', 'chakra,' and finally 'Kyūbi'. His eyes became wide as saucers on the last word. "Wait, what?"

"Naruto, when is your birthday?" Kakuzu demanded seriously.

"October 10," he replied. "Why? And what about the Kyūbi? Isn't it dead?"

"It is as I thought," Kakuzu muttered. "You are from Konoha," Kakuzu stated coldly. Naruto gulped at how tense the room seemed to get at those words.

Naruto shook his head nervously. "N-no I'm not…"

"Your birthday coincides with the date that the Kyūbi attacked Konoha."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?"

Kakuzu shot him a glance. "You are the Jinchūriki of Kyūbi no Yōko, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox which attacked Konoha on October 10, and the strongest of all the Bijū."

Naruto was stunned. "W-what? No, the Fourth Hokage killed it –"

The blonde was interrupted by Kakuzu's throaty laugh. The tall ninja chuckled for a bit before standing imposingly in front of Naruto. "I have been in contact with several persons who have a vested interest in the Bijū," Kakuzu began imperially. "As a result, I have become acquainted with a good degree of knowledge about the Bijū.

"First of all, you have a massive chakra supply, one that will most likely surpass my own once you have reached your fullest potential. Secondly, those whisker-like markings on your cheeks are a trait of the Demon Fox within you. And I have already explained the third part…you are from Konoha and share a birthday with the anniversary of the Kyūbi's so-called 'death'. Incidentally, the Bijū are unable to be killed. I believe that there is enough evidence to satisfy you."

The younger ninja remained silent for a moment, absorbing the information. Finally, "So…the voice in my head…"

"Is the Kyūbi attempting to make contact with you to release it," Kakuzu confirmed.

"What else…?" he asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"What else do you know about the Bijū, or these Jin…Jinchūr…"

"Jinchūriki," Kakuzu supplied, "are the human hosts who have a Bijū, or a Tailed Beast, sealed inside of them." Kakuzu reached into one of his sleeves and rummaged around, pulling out a photograph and holding it up for Naruto to see. The girl depicted had green hair and pink eyes, wearing tattered street clothing and possessing bronze skin. "This is Fū, the host of Nanabi no Kabutomushi, the Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle, from Takigakure. I had a contact of mine within Takigakure take this picture and give it to me."

Naruto carefully took the picture from Kakuzu, staring at it intently. After a minute, he folded it carefully and set it on the dresser next to the bed. Teacher and student were silent until Naruto could no longer bear it. "Do you…hate me?" he asked carefully, avoiding eye contact.

"Should I?"

"Everyone else did," mumbled the blonde.

"I presume that you are referring to the people of Konoha." Naruto nodded, prompting Kakuzu to continue. "Jinchūriki are often hated and feared by the people of their country because they are reminded of the demon within and often of nothing else. Having been unaffected by the Kyūbi's attack, I have no reason to scorn you. You have proven yourself to be a valuable commodity, and I see no reason currently to discontinue our arrangement.

"I can only assume that that is the reason you left Konoha?" Kakuzu inquired after a brief pause.

"Yeah," Naruto replied. "Everyone there hated me. I thought it was because my family did something and then were killed. But now…" Naruto's fist clenched the blanket in anger, "I find out it was because of the Kyūbi, this _monster_ that lives inside of me. I was protecting them from it!" he insisted.

Kakuzu nodded. "The stupidity of people knows no bounds. You will discover throughout life that your good deeds will go unnoticed and indeed be scorned, even if it is undeserved."

Angry at having discovered the real reason behind his isolation in Konoha, Naruto wasn't quite thinking very clearly. "What do _you_ know about scorn?" he scoffed.

The statement was like a catalyst.

Naruto choked as Kakuzu's fist shot out and latched around his throat, gripping tight and slowly retracting towards the bounty hunter. Kakuzu brought Naruto up to his face, green and red eyes hard as diamonds and staring into Naruto's scared blue orbs. "Do not," Kakuzu began, speaking slow and low, "pretend to understand what I have been through. I know more of scorn than you ever will," he continued dangerously, "so do not think that your status as a demon container makes you _special_."

Naruto's hands scrambled frantically for purchase on Kakuzu's much larger one, his face starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen. After another few seconds of letting Naruto try to pry his hand free, Kakuzu relaxed his grip, allowing his student to collapse to the floor and gulp in great mouthfuls of much-needed air. "You have learned your lesson?" Kakuzu stated coolly. Naruto could only nod quickly, not quite ready to use his voice yet. Kakuzu waited another couple of minutes before saying in a voice that left no room for argument, "Tell me of your past."

The blonde jerked in surprise before staring at Kakuzu with wide eyes. "Do not assume I care for your background," Kakuzu told him in the same cold tone, "I am merely curious."

"...I really don't remember much," Naruto admitted quietly. "There was an orphanage that I stayed at until I was kicked out at three. When Old Man Hokage found out, he helped me get set up in a really run-down apartment; apparently no one else was willing to give me a place.

"I remember a lot of hatred," he reminisced softly, "but I could never figure out why. I snuck into the library when I could to try and teach myself to read and write, and sometimes to figure out why everybody hated me, but I didn't get far and couldn't find anything. The shopkeepers always glared at me and chased me out, and most of the ninja ignored me. Finally, I came to the conclusion that my family must have committed some unspeakable sin, gotten erased from the history books, and that I was the sole survivor. That's when I left…and met you."

Naruto lapsed into silence after his tale, and Kakuzu seemed to stare right through him as he digested the tale. At length, Kakuzu said Naruto's name. The Jinchūriki looked up at his mentor, reading nothing on Kakuzu's face. "You remind me of me," Kakuzu said finally.

Naruto inhaled sharply at this. "What?"

"When I was an elite Jōnin," Kakuzu began, "the elders of Takigakure assigned me an interesting mission. I was told to kill the Shodai Hokage."

Naruto's wide blue eyes grew larger at this pronouncement. "You were assigned to kill the First!"

"Yes," confirmed Kakuzu. "Now be quiet brat." Naruto fell silent at this demand, and Kakuzu took a moment to recompose himself before continuing. "I snuck into the village proper and attempted to assassinate him, but I failed.

"I led him on a chase to the location known now as the Valley of the End. We clashed there, just the two of us, but despite my prowess in _**Suiton**_ techniques, intelligence, and relatively large chakra reserves, I was soundly defeated by Senju Hashirama and his powerful _**Mokuton **_techniques. Wood Release," he clarified, seeing Naruto about to ask.

"I returned to my village after attempting to complete this impossible task, and what do I get?" Naruto remained silent, sure that this was a rhetorical question; he was proven right a moment later. "SCORN!" Kakuzu roared, his ire raised by the reminder of his past. Threads erupted from his body in a display of his brief lapse in control before he calmed down, returning to the stiff, rigid man Naruto normally saw him as.

"My village believed that I did not try hard enough and punished me for failing in my objective. For twenty years I had served that village faithfully and with complete dedication, taking any task that was asked of me. This blasé disrespect for all of my servitude infuriated and offended me, so I left. But I did not go without a prize," he added with a malevolent grin.

Kakuzu held out his right arm, pulling back the sleeve and revealing dark flesh embroidered with stitches. The black threads wriggled underneath his skin like live snakes before popping out of the stitch on his forearm. "I stole Takigakure's most precious treasures: the kinjutsu _**Jiongu**_...and the hearts of the village elders, who did not appreciate my service to their precious village," he hissed sadistically. "This," he concluded, pointing at the slash across his Waterfall _hitae-ate_, "was the final separation between me and my village. That is when my current life began."

His narrative finished, Kakuzu waited for Naruto to digest the tale before speaking again. "Naruto," he stated, "do you understand why our histories our comparable?" Naruto nodded slowly, prompting Kakuzu to continue. "It is up to you what you will do now."

"What do you mean?"

"You have been with me for five years now. Now that you know my history, what will you do with that knowledge? Will you return to your village – or any village – and attempt to capitalize on this information, or will you stay here with me? You do not yet have a name among rogue ninja, and I would not blame you for attempting to regain some semblance of a normal life, though if you spoke of me I would be forced to kill you –"

"I'm staying," Naruto told him firmly. "I'm not afraid of your threats. You're just the first person to ever take the time to teach me anything, and I still have a lot more that I can learn. Besides," he added darkly, "if Konoha didn't want me, then I don't want it."

Kakuzu remained silent as a slow smirk stretched across his mouth. "Then it is time to create another link between us. Come here Naruto."

Naruto stepped forward as the bounty hunter remained stationery. After several seconds of doing nothing, Naruto noticed a large bulge moving from Kakuzu's upper arm to his forearm, finally reaching the stitch in his forearm before being slowly expelled by several black threads. Kakuzu grabbed the object with his left hand, pulling it out and revealing it to be a small scroll. The tall man bent down and placed it on the floor, unraveling it to reveal an older parchment with a black ring inscribed in the center. "Do you trust me Naruto?" Kakuzu asked.

"Of course," replied the blonde.

Kakuzu nodded. "You will need to perform this set of hand seals," he said, flashing through a long string of seals that Naruto only half-caught. The blonde asked his teacher to repeat the motions, and Kakuzu showed him again, doing it slightly slower. "Once you do that, place your hands on the scroll, but _do not touch the circle_. Understand?"

The 10-year-old gulped nervously, but nodded in understanding. He performed the required hand signs and knelt down to place his hands below the black ring, but touching the parchment. The ring glowed blue momentarily and the kanji for _**Jiongu**_ appeared in it as Kakuzu took several giant steps backwards.

That was when a veritable _mass_ of black threads erupted from the center of the circle, shooting upwards in a seemingly endless stream. They seemed to hit a peak, stopping in midair only to angle downwards, with Naruto as the focal point. Naruto almost stepped backwards, but Kakuzu's commanding bark of "Stay still!" stopped him.

The next thing Naruto knew, someone was screaming. It took a moment to realize that it was _him_ screaming, the sound continuous and pain-filled. The threads were burying into his body, completely bypassing his clothing and tearing into every inch of skin below the neck.

The entire process took only 30 seconds, but to Naruto it seemed to last an eternity. He lay in a ball on the ground, body wracked with pain and voice hoarse from screaming. Kakuzu stepped forward and rolled the scroll back up, allowing the threads within his body to wrap around it and pull it back into hiding.

"I would have warned you, but I believe that experience is the hallmark of learning," Kakuzu announced from above him, and Naruto could practically hear the sadistic glee dripping from the bounty hunter's voice.

Kakuzu bent down and lifted Naruto's left arm, pulling back the sleeve of the grey shirt he wore to reveal two thick black bands inked into the boy's skin, halfway between the wrist and elbow. "This is the sign that you now possess _**Jiongu**_, or Earth Grudge Fear – the Black Tendrils," Kakuzu declared. "This is Takigakure's most precious technique, greater than even the Hero's Water, and you are now the second person to be granted its power. You have a year to gain control of it, and I will not train you how to use it. Like me, you will struggle to understand its power, but I believe that you have the potential to utilize it successfully. If you cannot use it by the end of a year, I will strip it from you, a process which may kill you. Take the time to recover while you can…I have to meet with someone." With that, he left the room.

Kakuzu wandered past his and Naruto's normal training grounds, entering the forest and walking to where Shiromari had been summoned the previous day. Upon reaching the spot, he held his arm out, allowing one thread to wriggle free from his body and deposit something into his hand. The bounty hunter stared at the object – a tiny black seed – before channeling his chakra into it.

It only took 15 seconds to get the response he was waiting for.

"**What do you want?" **spoke the dark voice of Zetsu from behind him. Kakuzu turned around slowly, no longer surprised at Zetsu's strange ability to merge with and meld out of anything and everything.

"You told me I could contact you when I deemed it necessary by pushing my chakra into that seed," Kakuzu intoned dryly. "I am slightly surprised to find that it worked," he added as an afterthought.

Zetsu snorted. **"You still doubt my abilities, after all this time. If I give you information, you should trust that the information is true. Now, what do you want?" **he repeated.

Kakuzu took a moment to note that Zetsu's white half was unusually silent, theorizing that the seed ability was perhaps unique only to Black Zetsu…which meant that the two halves could actually function independently. Suddenly Zetsu's usefulness and power became even clearer. "I require your assistance in finding someone. I believe that Akatsuki's contacts trumps mine in sheer quantity, meaning you have a better source of quality at your disposal for information."

"**Who are you looking for?" **Zetsu demanded, cutting straight to the chase. Kakuzu told him, and a sinister smile spread over White Zetsu's lips, the only motion he had made thus far. **"I know **_**just**_** the person you want to find,"** Black Zetsu told him, the mirth evident in his voice.

-l-l-l-

_Kakuzu wasn't kidding when he said it would be a struggle to understand __**Jiongu**_, thought Naruto. It had been three months since the former Taki-nin had bestowed the kinjutsu upon his student, and the first week had been spent in a struggle with the pain caused by the technique. Kakuzu had moved them out of the hotel room after that first night – "A waste of money," he commented dismissively with a wave of his hand – and Naruto had spent that next week trying to use the technique and collapsing in agony. All the while, Kakuzu had watched him mutely.

The bounty hunter had also been serious when he said that he wouldn't train Naruto in the ability. The blonde was all on his own as far as a training schedule and what to practice, which meant he didn't have to hear Kakuzu's mocking sneers and dry sarcasm with respect to his talents and progress.

So far, Naruto had done very little with respect to using the black threads now within his body. They had seemed to retain some semblance of autonomy, and so he had spent the past three months attempting to find a way to control them. He was currently standing in front of a tree, shirtless, with one arm outstretched in front on his body. Focusing intently upon the tree, several threads shot out from the bands on his arm and pierced the trunk in places that Naruto imagined were vital spots on the average human male.

"Nicely done, brat."

Naruto turned around to see his mentor standing behind him, arms folded across his chest. "Yeah?" he asked, excited. "How long did it take you to do that?"

"I would prefer not to embarrass you on such a prolific occasion," returned the hunter idly. While Naruto scowled, Kakuzu unfolded his arms and stepped towards the blonde. "I came to let you know that I have to go somewhere to find someone. I do not know when I will return."

"That's…unusually vague," Naruto commented, eyebrow quirked in suspicion.

"It is," agreed Kakuzu before turning away, elaborating no further. "Oh…and one more thing…." Before Naruto could ask what it was, Kakuzu had spun around and launched his hand forward, grabbing a kunai from the pouch on Naruto's thigh and bringing it in an upward arc at Naruto's arm. The blonde didn't even have time to react as Kakuzu used his enormous strength and cleaved straight through his arm, just above the elbow.

His deed done, Kakuzu dropped the kunai, leaving Naruto staring at his arm on the ground. The blonde attempted to say something, yell at Kakuzu, scream in pain, but nothing came out. Naruto remained mesmerized as, in the next second, threads popped out from the end of his arm on the ground and the stump of his arm still attached to his body. They mingled together and pulled the severed appendage from the forest floor to Naruto's bicep, disappearing under his skin; a band of stitch marks – an exact replica of the location of one of Kakuzu's – was the only thing left to show that the arm had ever been detached in the first place.

Naruto looked up to either yell or thank Kakuzu (he wasn't entirely sure which), but the other ninja had already disappeared.

-l-l-l-

It took about a month and a half of Kakuzu's precious time, but he had followed Zetsu's directions and finally found who he was looking for.

"I have a request to make of you," he told the taller of the two men in front of him. The giant of a man listened to Kakuzu's request with a bored expression, but by the end he was grinning broadly.

"You've got yourself a deal, newbie," accepted the other man, his evil smirk revealing row upon row of sharp teeth. "I'm always up for fresh meat."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Notes: (EDITED 9/14/10)** Haha, 4 weeks practically on the dot! Damn I'm good! I'll say right now that I have no idea when the next update will be (since I switch between writing this and my other story), but I should never go more than a month without updating. Also, my nights are about to free up significantly, so I should be able to devote more time to writing (good news for you guys).

Sorry about the comparably dry chapter. It was necessary to establish part two of the challenge (give Naruto the **_Jiongu_**), and to set up the next chapter. I've found that it got progressively easier to write Kakuzu (if you haven't noticed, I have it where he doesn't use contractions [barring possessive nouns, but that doesn't _really_ count]). I actually had a bunch of questions from readers asking about giving Naruto the ability...obviously that's been answered, but I will post the actual challenge from pudgypudge in my profile, just so you can see what it is (if you're curious or unaware). Just two more setup chapters before the first (short) arc - Training - is completed, then on to the next part of the story. Hopefully you guys can wait two more chapters to see where this heads...and next chapter should be pretty good (at least, I hope you think so).

I try to respond to my reviewers if they have a question, but was unable to send a PM, so I'll answer it here: to FLaTone (and anyone else curious) - I know what I am going to do with respect to the idea of pairing up Naruto with someone, but for the sake of not ruining my idea or focusing on it throughout the story, I am going to have to abstain from outright answering your question. However, IF Naruto is paired with someone, it will NOT be anyone from Konoha...so have no fear. To everyone else, I hope you enjoyed this installment and will stick around for the next one! Let me know what you think!


	5. Kindred

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

Naruto bent low, performing a picture-perfect sweep kick on his imaginary opponent. He immediately raised his left arm – the one Kakuzu had cut off six months prior – and prompted several threads to shoot out from the stitches and pierce the air. They moved in a downward arc and stuck into a tree, spread out in a fashion such that a real person would be pinned spread-eagle into the plant. Naruto walked forward, hand still outstretched, and pulled out a kunai, applying a small amount of wind chakra and holding it up to his pretend foe's throat. "Game, set, and match," he pronounced with a grin.

"You seem to have acquired an acceptable amount of control over _**Jiongu**_, brat."

"Kakuzu, you're back!" greeted Naruto, turning around to face his mentor. "And you brought a friend," he noted slyly.

"Hardly," snorted Kakuzu, dropping the corpse of an azure-haired male wearing ANBU armor from his shoulder. He rolled the shoulder lazily and cracked his neck, the sound echoing in the quiet clearing. "The trip to Kirigakure was well worth the bounty this one will fetch though."

"You were gone a long time," huffed Naruto, plopping to the ground and poking the Mist ANBU idly with his foot.

Kakuzu cuffed him from afar, his student not even flinching from the hit. "I would like to see you penetrate Kirigakure's defenses with your measly skills," retorted the hunter. "Considering how difficult it is to get into the country, remain inconspicuous, find and capture the target, and get out without raising suspicion, two months is hardly a long time. I expect you will take at least six your first time."

"Uh-huh," Naruto agreed absently. "Why the hell did you lug him all the way back without a sealing scroll anyway?"

"I enjoy carrying the weight of my victims' bodies personally," he claimed sinisterly. "There is a high degree of satisfaction in carrying the amount of money you are to get on your back. Perhaps you will understand in time, when you are stronger." Naruto harrumphed unhappily, but let the acerbic comment go. "Come," intoned Kakuzu, reaching down to pick up the corpse. "You have had nine months to train with _**Jiongu**__, _and it looks as if you are ready for the next step."

"Really?" exclaimed Naruto. "What's the next step? And where are we going?" he continued, jumping up and skipping up to Kakuzu's side.

Kakuzu shot him a look that the blonde chose to ignore. After a moment, Kakuzu said, "I plan on cashing in my prize. Then we are going to continue your training."

"I thought you weren't going to help me with my training," Naruto chirped innocently. Kakuzu's look turned into a full-on glare. He reached over and shoved the blonde sideways with enough force to make Naruto impact a nearby tree and fall to the ground.

"Do not look a gift horse in the mouth, brat. When you get something free, take it. Depending on its usefulness, keep it or sell it. Now, come."

Naruto pulled himself off of the ground and shook his head. He thought he detected a hint of mirth in his teacher's voice but paid it no heed, too busy watching the swirling colored dots dance in front of his eyes.

-l-l-l-

Naruto would never understand what idiot came up with the idea of putting an exchange point within a _bathroom_. Granted, the smell of the bathroom would potentially hide the stench of any corpses brought in, but _still_…a _bathroom?_ He held back a gag as Kakuzu tapped on the wall between two urinals, revealing a bald man with a dark mustache, goatee, and scar above his right eyebrow. He stared at Kakuzu and Naruto momentarily over the rim of his trench coat before turning around and beckoning them to enter.

"Kakuzu," greeted the man, walking over to the wall and pulling out a drawer. "It's been awhile. I see you even brought your protégé back this time. Naruto, right?"

Naruto nodded as he and Kakuzu stepped forward to the open drawer, which turned out to be a sturdy table. "You would do well to remember his name, Zangei," retorted Kakuzu brusquely. "He is well on his way to becoming an excellent bounty hunter, meaning that you will have more interaction with him in the future."

Zangei merely nodded, gesturing for Kakuzu to lay the corpse on the table, which he did. "I will imprint it in my memory. Now, who do you have today?" The scarred man pulled out a Bingo Book and began rifling through its pages, reaching the section for Kirigakure and beginning to flip slower. "Oh, it looks like you brought in a big haul, Kakuzu. Hōzuki Mangetsu, ANBU rank, and a Seven Swordsmen of the Mist trainee; Kumogakure and Kusagakure both put 53 million ryou on his head. He must've been quite the fight."

"It was well worth the reward," returned Kakuzu. "Brat," he stated, turning his attention to Naruto, "we are headed to the Earth Country next. Pick a target from this while I count the money," he ordered, tossing Naruto his own Bingo Book.

Naruto flipped slowly through the pages in an imitation of his teacher, who was fingering through the money Kaeru had handed him in a briefcase. After several minutes, Naruto turned the book towards Kakuzu, pointing at the right page. "Him," he stated simply. Kakuzu looked up from the wad of cash in his hands, staring intently at the page before inclining his head in a brief nod.

Shortly thereafter, the locking click of the briefcase could be heard. "We shall be on our way," Kakuzu bade Zangei. The scarred man nodded in understanding, showing Kakuzu and Naruto to the door before closing it discreetly behind him. "Let us go," intoned the hunter with a swish of his cloak.

-l-l-l-

It only took a couple of hours of clipped walking to cross through Grass Country and reach Earth Country from where the exchange point was stationed, but Naruto was grateful for the time. Kakuzu had spent a lot of time drilling into his head that he needed to think things through, and even still, it was difficult to do unless it was quiet.

The blonde knew that this wasn't a normal hunt. Despite having been on a couple of bounty chases, Kakuzu had only accompanied him once or twice, and the 11-year-old had _never_ been allowed to choose the target. The Bingo Book had been the first indication that something was different about this particular case.

Suspecting something, Naruto had purposefully chosen a low-valued target, barely a Jōnin and worth next to nothing. On any other occasion, Kakuzu wouldn't have even wasted his time with such a pointless mission, and more likely than not would have attempted to beat the ever-loving shit of out Naruto for even suggesting the hunt.

Something was up, and Naruto was determined to find out what.

"Hey, Kakuzu, why are we going after this guy?"

"You chose him," replied the tall man curtly.

When he didn't elaborate, Naruto decided to try again. "Yeah, but…you _never_ go for these small fries. So why are you suddenly all for it?"

Kakuzu smirked beneath his mask. "So you knew."

The blonde nodded. "I just don't understand why."

Kakuzu halted suddenly, the action surprising Naruto. "Have you ever wondered how I am able to utilize all five elements?"

"I just thought it was years of practice and experience," shrugged Naruto.

Kakuzu snorted. "That is one component, yes. However, the original abilities are a power of the black threads that now course through your body."

It took a moment to digest exactly what the older ninja was saying. "You mean…_**Jiongu**_ gave you that power?"

His teacher rolled his eyes. "Precisely. _**Jiongu**_ has _far_ more uses than you have discovered thus far, and I intend to have you take full advantage of them. This," continued Kakuzu, unzipping and throwing off the black trench coat, "is what we are after."

Naruto gaped unashamedly at Kakuzu's back. Stitches – prized marks of the kinjutsu stolen years ago from Takigakure – crisscrossed his body like some demented rag doll. The truly impressive feature was the four animal masks – _ANBU masks_, he realized – held seamlessly in place on his back. "Each of these," lectured Kakuzu, "contains the heart of an opponent I have fought and killed. Continually replacing them has allowed me to extend my life and use the remaining four nature elements. Now," he finished, shrugging his cloak back on, "it is your turn. We are traveling to the Earth Country so you can begin to use this secondary function of _**Jiongu**_."

"…Why?" managed Naruto.

Kakuzu chose to read through the subtext and answer his pupil's real question. "You are wind-natured, which means you are naturally weak against fire users and strong against lightning users. To support your weaknesses, you will require water element and earth element hearts in order to properly cover the gamut of elemental chakra. Now let us continue…I hate wasting time."

Naruto trudged along slightly behind Kakuzu, his mind caught in a slight daze from trying to process all of the new information.

-l-l-l-

"So, now that you've told me why we're in Earth Country, does it really matter who I target?"

"No," Kakuzu responded. "You did choose a rather pathetic target, one not even worthy of our time," he added carelessly.

"Bite me," retorted the blonde, cowering seconds later as Kakuzu shot him a chilly glare that promised pain. "So…" he drawled nervously, staring at the rocky terrain of the Earth Country, and counting the border guards, "now what?"

"Pick one of the pathetic ninja in front of you to fight, and I will dispatch of the remainder," Kakuzu answered lowly, a manic glint entering his eyes. Naruto shuddered; he had noticed over the years that Kakuzu had somewhat frequent homicidal urges, and while the frequency with which he attacked Naruto had declined, the bounty hunter also disappeared more often in order to satiate his desire for murder. The 11-year-old _almost_ felt sorry for the Iwa Chūnin on border patrol. He nodded to show he understood, and then both ninja moved.

Naruto veered slightly to the right, aiming for the Chūnin furthest from the rest. Kakuzu, noticing this, followed the blonde slightly, cutting off the other four Iwa-nin from Naruto's target. "You have to get past me first," grinned Kakuzu, his skin darkening.

Meanwhile, Naruto cornered his own prey, a young man in his late teens with sandy brown hair and green eyes. Said orbs flickered intermittently in Kakuzu's direction, where Naruto could only presume his teacher was making short work of the other ninja. After allowing this action to continue for a couple of minutes, Naruto placed one hand on his hip. "Ya know, maybe you should pay attention to your real opponent."

His words seemed to galvanize his opponent, who suddenly became slightly more focused on the blonde. He ran through a short string of hand seals, putting his hands to the ground and causing several spires to rise from it. Naruto jumped to the right before leaping back to his original spot as more earthen spires erupted from the ground, reaching with one hand towards his weapons pouch.

"Are you done yet?" called Kakuzu, interrupting Naruto's shuriken throw, all of which imbedded themselves into a rock by his opponent.

"Kakuzu!" shouted Naruto. "Shut up! This guy's annoying!"

"I put up with you, do I not?" he returned idly, inspecting one of his nails to emphasis his boredom.

Naruto growled, the noise evolving into a raspy scream that began to erupt from the back of his throat. The Iwa-nin, sensing opportunity, jetted forward with a kunai extended for Naruto's neck.

He never made it there. Ten feet away from the blonde, Naruto whipped around and threw forward his right arm, the black tendrils of _**Jiongu**_bursting forth and ensnaring the Iwa-nin. The teenager dropped his kunai as the threads wrapped securely around his wrists, ankles, and throat, completely restricting his movement and holding him aloft. "Now what?" glared Naruto at his mentor.

"Use the power I have granted you to take his heart and make it one with your chakra system. The _**Jiongu**_ will know what to do." The green eyes of Naruto's captive widened at this proclamation, while the blonde merely shrugged.

Naruto raised his left arm, allowing the black threads to slither out from the stitches on his arm. They shot forward suddenly, burying into the Iwa-nin's chest and causing him to gag. After a few seconds, the light dimmed from his eyes and the threads emerged, a pulsating _something_ encaged in their grasp. The bundle disappeared into Naruto's arm, and the blonde could feel a new power flooding through him. "Whoa…"

"Take off your shirt," commanded Kakuzu suddenly. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the abruptness but did as he was told, removing both the vest and shirt he wore. Kakuzu stepped up behind him, holding something up to his back for a matter of seconds before removing his hand. "It is done," he intoned.

Naruto wished he had a mirror. "What's done?" he asked, annoyed.

"I covered up your new acquisition with a mask. I assumed that you would not want blood and organs to go uncovered," he deadpanned, "and so took the liberty of getting extra ANBU masks. _**Jiongu**_ took care of the semantics."

The blonde turned and stared at the taller ninja, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You mean, those last bounties…"

"Do not read into my actions, brat," Kakuzu defended haughtily, "I killed those ANBU because they were well worth the cost. The masks just ended up being extra perks. Now come…Hōzuki's mask still requires a _**Suiton**_ heart to house."

-l-l-l-

Naruto looked around as Kakuzu came to a halt, the clearing they were currently in quite serene. A waterfall fell gently into a smooth lake, the peaceful feeling in the area relaxing Naruto's nerves; the new power he felt coursing through him had been somewhat overwhelming during the several hour trek out of Earth Country. "If you want me to get a _**Suiton**_ heart, shouldn't we keep going to Kirigakure?" he asked.

"No," came the blunt response. "As I mentioned before, Kirigakure is far away and very difficult to infiltrate. This place will serve two purposes."

The blonde looked around, attempting to find something special about the clearing. Stumped, he sighed and bit down his pride. "And where exactly is 'this place'?"

"This," Kakuzu presented with mock grandiose, "is the reveled entrance to Takigakure, the renowned Hidden Waterfall Village." His pupil looked at him in slight disbelief, causing the bounty hunter to rub the bridge of his nose in irritation. "There is a _reason_ it is the Hidden _Waterfall_ Village, brat," he ground out. Naruto eyed the waterfall, his mouth forming an 'o' in understanding.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes in frustration; the boy was fortunate that he had satisfied his homicidal urges by killing the Iwa-nin earlier. He reached into a sleeve and pulled out a picture, holding it up so Naruto could see. "This is Tamura Tadao. He was my contact within the village for information, but he has outlived his usefulness."

The blonde studied the picture, noting the man's features just as Kakuzu had told him to long ago. He possessed a slim face with blue hair and sulfurous green-yellow eyes, greediness glinting in their poisonous depths. "If he was your contact, why do you want me to kill him?"

"This bastard is trying to blackmail me," growled the former Taki-nin, "and I do not allow such foolishness to go unpunished. He thinks that I will pay him a ridiculous sum of money in order to prevent him from telling the village about my existence and activities."

"Then why don't you kill him?"

"My presence within my home village would not be an inconspicuous one," he snorted. "There is a reason why there are no witnesses to any bounty hunting trips I take. You would do well to follow the same procedure."

"I guess I can do you this favor," the blonde acquiesced at last. "Tell me what to do."

-l-l-l-

Naruto surfaced from the pool and gasped for air. _That bastard Kakuzu didn't tell me how long I would have to hold my breath for. I'll kill 'im!_ He hoisted himself from the water, dragging a briefcase behind him. Fully out, he shook himself off and looked around.

The pool he had come up in was one of several, waterfalls trickling into all of them. Short grass littered the area, a few trees placed intermittently some distance away. Naruto placed the briefcase on the grass beside him, unfastening the locks and checking the contents.

Naruto heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that the money Kakuzu had received from Kaeru was still safe and dry. The blonde had asked his teacher for the briefcase in order to solidify the image of paying the blackmail ransom. The bounty hunter had _very_ reluctantly handed over the money, but not after telling him in _vivid _detail what he would do to the blonde if all the cash wasn't there upon leaving.

Naruto shuddered…the images were not pleasant. He stood up and picked up the briefcase, wandering aimlessly to the right. After twenty minutes of walking, he paused, sharp eyes catching sight of something interesting.

Two teenage boys, obviously ninja, were picking on a third kid who looked to be about Naruto's age. They looked to be content with simply verbally abusing the third person until one of the boys shoved the other party. The kid tried countering, but that opened the way for the two boys to start physically beating on him.

Suddenly the blonde heard a snicker not far away, and swiveled his head, finally managing to pinpoint an adult hidden carefully within a clump of bushes a hundred feet away from the kids. Naruto eyed him carefully, noting blue hair and an angular jaw. _That's the one_, he thought.

Naruto approached the man, clearing his throat to capture his attention. Sulfurous yellow-green eyes turned to face him, wide in surprise. "Tamura Tadao?" Naruto asked.

"Who's asking?" replied the man in a reedy whine. His voice grated on Naruto's ears, and the blonde was forced to visibly contain his flinch.

"Kakuzu sent me," he stated brusquely. "I have the money."

"Ah, good, good," grinned Tadao venomously. "Let me see the briefcase."

Naruto placed the briefcase down and unlocked it, turning it around so it opened towards the informant. The man's eyes lit up in excitement, allowing Naruto a moment to focus on the group of fighting children. His blue eyes widened in shock when he noticed that only the third kid was left, lying motionless on the ground.

"Well, it looks like it's all here," said Tadao in his high voice. Naruto heard the click of the briefcase locks as Tadao closed it and knew it was time to act. "Pleasure doing business with –"

Naruto reached out with his right hand and grabbed the man's throat. "Ah, blissful silence," he sighed happily. Then his eyes hardened and he brought the man right up to his face. "Kakuzu sends his regards," he whispered wickedly. Then he thrust his left hand forward, threads bursting forth just like with the Iwa-nin. Tadao's eyes widened as the threads stole his heart and assimilated it into Naruto's system.

He dropped the corpse of the informant as power flooded his body again, causing him to moan. The blonde rubbed his forehead to try and stave off the headache he felt coming. "Okay…there should really be a label for side effects on that scroll," he groaned.

Suddenly a kunai was at his throat. "Who are you, and why did you kill this man?" demanded a tomboyish voice.

Naruto mentally berated himself for dropping his guard, but noticed out of his peripheral that the kid on the ground had disappeared. _Does that mean…but how?_ He felt the kunai tickle his skin and realized that he had yet to answer the question. "This man was a traitor of your village," he explained, deciding that half-truths might just get him through this.

"Say you're right," retorted the voice after a short pause, "that would imply that you don't even belong to the village. Where is your allegiance?"

Naruto gulped slightly. He preferred to kill only when either necessary or worthwhile, and judging by the voice behind him, his captor was too young to be worth any significant reward. "I have no village allegiance," he hazarded.

The person behind him was silent for a moment, and Naruto figured he or she was mulling over his answer. He stayed perfectly still under he heard his captor groan, the hand with the kunai retracting just a hair. That was enough for him.

The blonde quickly threw up his right arm, pushing away the kunai and leaping away in one swift movement. He turned around to see his opponent – a thin, tanned, light green-haired child – clutching his or her stomach in pain. The kid groaned, and Naruto felt something prickle his conscious. _Kakuzu's gonna kill me_, he sighed.

"Are…you okay?" he tried.

"Do I look okay?" snapped the kid, the voice – while tomboyish – distinctly female.

"Not particularly," shrugged the blonde. "Hey…you look familiar," he realized. It took a minute of staring before it finally clicked. Naruto reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out a battered photo. He held it up next to the girl and ordered her to lift her head up.

She looked up so Naruto could see her face, and he gasped when he saw a black bruise painted around one of her pink eyes. "You're the Jinchūriki! Fū, right?" Another moment, then, "Hey, you were the one being picked on earlier!"

"You're powers of deduction…astound me," she grit out. "How do you know I'm a…Jinchūriki?"

Naruto nudged the body of Tadao. "He was an informant for –" Naruto paused, "my mentor. Why were those kids picking on you?"

Fū scoffed. "You wouldn't understand."

The blonde was silent for a long time. At length, he spoke in a solemn voice. "They think you're a monster. They blame you for the deaths the Bijū inside of you caused. You're the target of all of their pent-up rage and hatred. Worst of all, you can't defend yourself, because then people think that you're 'attacking' them. …Am I close?"

All Fū could do was stare at him in wonder. "How…?"

"How do I know?" he finished rhetorically. He looked down quietly in shame, as if debating what to say. "I know because I'm just like you. I am the host to Kyūbi no Yōko, the Nine-Tailed Fox and the most powerful of all the Tailed Beasts."

Fū was too stunned to speak. Naruto watched as her pupils seemed to disappear and her eyes went blank for several seconds. Her pink orbs seemed to refocus and she removed her hand from her stomach, where it had been resting to quell the pain. "You're telling the truth," she whispered in awe. "I never thought I'd meet another person like me, someone who shares my pain and understands."

"You believe me, just like that?" he questioned skeptically.

She smiled wryly. "I spoke to the bug." At Naruto's inquiring gaze, she elaborated, "Nanabi no Kabutomushi, the Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle. Apparently he was reacting to the presence of the Kyūbi and that's why I was in pain."

"Are you accepted in this village?" Naruto asked suddenly.

"Not…really," she replied unsurely. "Why?"

"No real reason," he shrugged carelessly, "but if you're looking for acceptance, I know a place where you can find it. Interested?"

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu strode (he _never_ paced) back and forth in the clearing the blonde had left well over an hour ago. It wasn't that he was worried about the blonde, but the idiot _did_ have his money. Tadao shouldn't have proven to be such a big problem, but if Naruto had gotten caught, even a platoon of elite Taki-nin (as few as they were) might have been able to overwhelm him with his limited experience.

_That brat has five minutes before I go in there and take off his head for losing my money._

Fortunately for Naruto, Kakuzu didn't have to wait that long. After three minutes, bubbles began to form in the middle of the water, attracting his attention. Moments after, Naruto's blonde head burst through the surface, followed by several deep gasps of air. "Brat," growled Kakuzu, "where. Is. My. Money."

The black briefcase containing Kakuzu's cash flew through the air and landed on the bank next to the tall man. "Good," he stated calmly after checking the contents. "Now hurry up. I do not wish to dally here any longer than necessary."

That was when a second head burst through the water, taking in heaving gasps of air. Kakuzu immediately began preparing a powerful technique to take care of the intruder, but Naruto spluttered "Wait!" prompting Kakuzu to pause in curiosity. He waited until Naruto and the other person swam to shore and flopped onto the bank, chests heaving in rhythm.

Kakuzu's green eyes stared with piercing intensity at the other person before switching their gaze to his pupil. "You little shit," he hissed, "what did you do?"

Naruto coughed up a lungful of water before answering. "I took out your guy and brought back Takigakure's third best secret – the Jinchūriki of the Seven-Tails. Aren't you proud?" he smirked.

Kakuzu hauled the blonde up by his collar, bringing him within inches of his face and beginning to leak killer intent. "What was your intention by bringing this pest out with you?"

"I thought that…perhaps…you could help train her…like you did me?" he stammered.

"Do not presume to speak for me, you insolent pest!" boomed Kakuzu. "You were the first student I have ever taken on, and until you have earned your keep, I will consider even that a mistake. I will not allow you to drag me into training another useless, annoying sack of flesh."

Before Naruto could protest, Fū's voice cut through Kakuzu's rant. "You never told me that _Kakuzu_ was your teacher, Naruto." Her voice was a mixture of fear and awe, and Kakuzu dropped Naruto carelessly onto the grass before walking over to her.

The bounty hunter leaned in close, appearing to inspect her before saying in a dangerously low tone, "What have you heard of me, little girl?"

"Only what the history books have told us," shrugged Fū. "That after failing to assassinate the Shodai Hokage, you were shamed out of the village, but not before stealing _**Jiongu**_ and the hearts of the village elders. You're an inspiration to me!"

Kakuzu raised one eyebrow. "Most people do not have such a reaction to my deeds and actions. Name, rank, and reason," he ordered.

"My name is Fū, I'm a former Genin of Takigakure, and I hold a lot of spite for my country. Naruto gave me something to believe in where before I only experienced pain and misery." She removed her _hitae-ate_ from where it was wrapped around her arm and scored it with a kunai, symbolizing the end of her village affiliation. "Will you take me on as a second apprentice, Kakuzu-_sensei_?"

Kakuzu punched her head, but was surprised when the Fū in front of him collapsed into dust. "That is an interesting trick," he called aloud to the surrounding foliage.

"It's part of my Bijū's abilities," returned Fū's voice. "Pretty cool, huh?" The green-haired girl jumped down from a tree, landing not too far from Kakuzu. "So, am I enough of an asset for you to train _now_?"

The tall ninja looked at her for a long moment, considering the request. At length, he turned away, picked up the briefcase, and walked on. "Do not call me _sensei_," was all he said.

-l-l-l-

Naruto had to admit that while Kakuzu was…_interesting…_ to hang out with, having Fū around was a blessing. It was great to finally be able to have someone his own age to be around, even if the past three months since Fū's arrival had been somewhat busy.

While Naruto had been adjusting to the random power surges of the new _**Suiton**_ and _**Doton**_ chakras within him, Kakuzu had drilled Fū on all of her abilities. Unlike Naruto, who was granted limitless chakra and elevated healing abilities, Fū's main ability allowed her to utilize _**Jinton**_, or Dust Release, techniques, as well as a heavy-hitting taijutsu style closely related to _**Goken**_, or the Strong Fist style. As a result, Kakuzu had taken great interest in expanding upon her mastery of taijutsu, _**Jinton**_, _**Fūton**_, and _**Doton**_ techniques, the two elements which combined to make the former.

Currently, both Naruto and Fū were waiting for Kakuzu in Naruto's usual training field on the outskirts of Onanji. Naruto eyed Fū using his peripheral vision, taking notice of her outfit change. She wore a short fishnet shirt under a slightly shorter white shirt which revealed her abdomen. White armlets covered her arms up to just past her elbows, and white ninja shoes protected her feet. A white skirt covered more fishnet material which went down to mid-thigh, and Fū's crossed-out Waterfall _hitae-ate_ was in place on her right bicep. An empty, red cylindrical bag hung on her back, held in place by crisscrossing red straps over her chest.

_Risqué,_ he thought offhandedly.

Kakuzu's curt greeting of, "Brat, Fū," cut off his thoughts.

"How come you don't have a derogatory name for her," pouted Naruto.

"She has respect for me," he replied blandly, "and she does not annoy the shit out of me like you do." Naruto huffed indignantly, causing Fū to giggle lightly.

"As for the real reason I am here," continued Kakuzu, "close your eyes and hold out your hands, brat." Naruto did as he was told, and seconds later he heard Fū gasp in amazement. He felt a brief sense of excitement before there was a swishing sound and Naruto lost the feeling in his right arm. He opened his eyes to find the black threads of _**Jiongu**_ reconnecting his now severed right arm at the same junction it had done a year ago with his left one.

"This is becoming a habit with you," Naruto told Kakuzu in a voice unfazed by his lack of appendage.

"True," droned his teacher, "but I wanted to demonstrate to you the capabilities of your new weapon." Naruto's eyes found what the tall ninja was referring to – a tantō with an eight inch glistening steel blade connected to a plain black handle decorated at the base with Naruto's crest, a spiral inside of a circle.

"Whoa," he murmured, reaching out with both hands as his right arm finished reattaching to his body. "You got this for me?" he choked out.

"For fuck's sake, do not get all emotional on me," Kakuzu chastised. "This will expand your repertoire and aid in your wind chakra manipulation. I expect you to pay me back for that in the years to come."

"So are you going to train me how to use it?" Naruto asked, voice filled with awe as he sheathed and unsheathed the weapon over and over again.

"No," scoffed the bounty hunter, "I have little use for such trivialities. So while I train your new friend here, you will serve under a kenjutsu master I managed to find for you."

As Naruto quirked an eyebrow in curiosity, Kakuzu motioned towards the forest where two figures in black cloaks were appearing. The shorter of the two possessed raven black hair and dead eyes, his face betraying no emotion whatsoever. The taller one rivaled Kakuzu's height, and carried a tremendous object wrapped in white bandages on his back. Naruto could only surmise that this man was to be his new teacher.

_Does he have…blue skin?_ wondered the blonde as they got closer. He also noted slits in the man's neck – _Gills?_ – and beady, bloodshot eyes that shone with a sadism which probably surpassed Kakuzu's own. "This is Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the former Seven Swordsman of the Mist," Kakuzu introduced without emotion. "He will train you for the next year using whatever method he so desires." Kisame grinned at this, revealing row upon row of sharp teeth; Naruto gulped slightly, but otherwise made no other move which revealed his emotions.

"We're gonna have a good time, aren't we Fishbait?" chuckled Kisame. Naruto shot a scowl at Kakuzu, who completely ignored it, before following Kisame and the other man away from Onanji and towards Lightning Country. Fū waved a rather tepid farewell before following Kakuzu in the opposite direction to continue her training.

Both Jinchūriki had a _long_ year ahead of them.

-l-l-l-

OMAKE

Kakuzu wandered down the practically deserted street, Fū walking in front of him and gazing at the buildings in wonder. While he recognized that Naruto would start training with Kisame tomorrow and Fū needed a legitimate ninja uniform, he wasn't particularly happy about going out and spending _more_ money on his wayward pupils.

The bounty hunter was shaken from his musings by the sound of a bell chiming. He looked up to find Fū disappearing through the door of the same ninja supply shop he had visited years before. He gave a long-suffering sigh that betrayed his annoyance before waiting idly outside, a silent sentinel.

Twenty minutes later, the Seven-Tails Jinchūriki reappeared dressed in…the most ridiculous outfit Kakuzu had ever seen. "While fishnet could be considered a staple of ninja attire, I fail to see the practicality of such a stupid clothing choice," he criticized.

"It helps show off my girlish figure," Fū chirped.

"What figure? You have the body of a 12-year-old," he deadpanned.

"I _am_ a 12-year-old," she huffed indignantly. "Besides, I like it. These clothes allow me flexibility and room to grow into, so someday I _can_ use my figure."

"Let us assume for a moment that all of that is true," allowed the tall ninja, "what _possible_ purpose does _that_ serve?" he pointed to the red, cylindrical object strapped to her back.

"I…don't know," she managed, "but it looks _cool!_" Noticing the vein throbbing over Kakuzu's eye, Fū smiled sheepishly and added, "I'll find a use for it at some point."

There was silence for a long moment as Kakuzu fought down the urge to kill the girl. "…I expect a full reimbursement, with interest," he threatened before walking away. Fū merely pumped her arm in excitement at having won the right to keep her new clothes.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Hi guys, sorry for the long wait. The chapter actually ended up being a bit longer than my previous ones (finally!) and got Naruto settled into a new training regime. I'm expanding his repertoire by giving him some swordsmanship skills as well as **_Jiongu_**'s real ability. If anyone thinks I'm overpowering him...well, you can let me know, but not only will the sword be used kind of infrequently (think Sai), but I've purposefully left Naruto's abilities kind of vague for the moment. No worries though...I have plans for him.

Fū was a burst of inspiration that came to me months ago that changed the very first idea I had for this story. I'll expand upon her abilities later as well, but for now you should know that she is physically strong and can use Earth and Wind techniques, as well as Dust (**_Jinton_**) techniques (a mixture of the two, used by Onoki) thanks to the Seven-Tails.

The last thing I'll say is that I have no idea when the next chapter will be out. I know this one was a little late from what I prefer, but my family life right now is rather complicated and I'm having a lot of trouble coping with a lot of things. It's not exactly a situation that puts me in a mood to write. But I'm trying to get back on the saddle and start up again, and luckily pretty much finished this puppy over the 3-day weekend. All I ask is a little patience with the next chapter. Thanks everyone, and thanks to all of you who reviewed! I really appreciate it!


	6. Motion

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

"_**Suiton: Suikōdan no Jutsu**_; Water Release: Water Shark Bomb Technique!"

Naruto quickly stopped channeling chakra to his feet, allowing his body to plummet below the surface of the lake. The attack sailed harmlessly overhead, splashing mere feet away from where Naruto had been standing. He mentally congratulated himself for his quick thinking, swimming quietly towards where Kisame was standing in the vain hope that the blue-haired man wouldn't know his location.

The blonde Jinchūriki had been training with Kisame for roughly a year, the lessons only stopping due to changing locations and the one extended mission Kisame and his partner were told to go on. For the most part they had stayed around Sea Country, a stretch of rural land between Fire Country and Lightning Country which bordered the ocean and dabbled in fishing. A large lake sat in the middle of a dense, foggy forest; judging by how well it was hidden and how well Kisame knew the area, Naruto could only assume that he often frequented the area for training.

The really good thing about having Kisame as a teacher was that Naruto had learned more than just swordsmanship from the man. The blonde had left Kakuzu before being able to take full advantage of the new elements within him; fortunately, ex-Mist ninja Kisame had taught Naruto a bunch of common _**Suiton**_ moves that most Kirigakure Chūnin knew, as well as some more difficult ones.

Throughout the year, Naruto had noticed that he kept comparing Kisame to Kakuzu. While Kakuzu was ruthless, obsessed with money, and normally wouldn't do anything unless it benefited him in some way, Kisame was a strict taskmaster, forcing Naruto through motions again and again until he had perfected them. Kakuzu usually taught Naruto what he felt the blonde needed to know and then left him to his own devices to train with the new technique. Barring the obvious sadistic streak and bloodlust, there were very few similarities between the two giants.

Besides teaching, the most useful contrast between the two was that Kisame was far more willing to talk than Kakuzu. So willing, in fact, that Naruto could swear planting him with the blue man was part of Kakuzu's plan all along.

_That bastard would somehow find a way to make a gain by getting rid of me_.

Apparently, the black cloaks with red clouds that Kisame and his partner wore symbolized their affiliation with Akatsuki, an organization that Kisame described as being dedicated to world domination. The group was still somewhat new, having formed shortly before his birth, but had already earned a reputation as an effective terrorist organization. According to Kisame, Akatsuki was currently focusing on attaining large sums of money in order to back their plan, which explained their interest in Kakuzu.

The group operated in pairs, and Naruto found himself hard-pressed to find a stranger partnership than the one he was currently enmeshed in. Kisame's partner was a stoic man by the name of Uchiha Itachi, the name ringing a bell with the blonde. It had taken a solid two weeks for Naruto to find out that information, the raven-haired man silent until Kisame had ribbed him into introducing himself.

Naruto was constantly wary of Itachi; the Uchiha clan had taken no great pains in attempting to improve his former life in Konoha, and while he didn't know Itachi, he wasn't taking any chances. Additionally, while the Uchiha was an obvious missing-nin from their home village, Naruto wasn't sure exactly what Itachi knew of him, if anything. Fortunately, the raven-haired man – while apparently in charge of the larger and more intimidating Kisame – had done little to nothing to interfere with or stop Naruto's training.

Not that Itachi _not_ interfering with his training made it any easier.

Naruto swam up underneath Kisame, mentally thanking the man for training him how to hold his breath for long periods of time. He stealthily began to rise to the surface, closing in on twenty feet when Kisame looked down and grinned wickedly. Naruto had seen that look many times on Kisame in the past year and had learned that the amount of sharp glistening teeth that could be seen in the ex-Mist-nin's mouth was a good indication of how much trouble he was in.

Even from his distance, Naruto felt like he could almost count every individual tooth. _Ah, shit_.

Kisame clapped his hands together and then placed his right one on the surface of the lake. "_**Suiton: Goshokuzame**_; Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks." From each of his fingers formed a shark made entirely of water, all of them swirling down through the lake and targeting the blonde.

The blonde yelled in surprise, but only managed to release a stream of bubbles that the sharks promptly tore through. Thinking quickly, Naruto formed three hand seals and began to spin. _**Mizu no Tatsumaki**_, he thought, _Tornado of Water_. A swirling vortex of water formed around the blonde, protecting him and partially destroying all five sharks. He stopped spinning after several seconds and mentally sighed in relief. _Okay, one obstacle avoided_.

Naruto looked up to see Kisame's grin grow wider – _How is that _possible_?_ – before reexamining his surroundings. The sharks that he thought he had destroyed began to reform in front of his eyes, the water from the lake filling in the parts that his technique had destroyed. _One_, he counted, _two, three, four…wait…where's the fifth?_ He turned around to find the last shark bearing down upon him, and resisted the urge to cry in panic.

Stretching out his arms and legs, Naruto caught the shark's wide jaws as it attempted to snatch him up. The shark thrashed violently, trying to shake the blonde off to attack him, but Naruto held on tight. Frustrated, the shark raced to the surface, breaking through the glass-like top of the lake at a breakneck speed.

Fortunately for Naruto, the shark lost cohesion as soon as it lost contact with the water. Unfortunately for him, the momentum from the shark continued to propel him through the air. "AHHHH!" he screamed as he flew in an arc over the lake and towards the land. He hit the ground clumsily, rolling head-over-feet before springing up with sword raised defensively.

The large, bandaged weapon that Kisame affectionately called Samehada connected with Naruto's tantō, forcing the blonde to dig his heels into the ground; even so, the power behind the attack moved him back a solid foot. Naruto wasn't entirely sure _why_ the blade had a name, but after fighting against it for the better part of a year, he wasn't about to question Kisame's methods, especially considering he hadn't won against it yet. All he knew was that letting the bandaged weapon touch him was a _bad_ idea; it stole his chakra and caused an annoying burning sensation that lasted for hours.

_Gotta…gain leverage_, Naruto sweated as Kisame applied more pressure to his weapon.

"Khe he he," laughed Kisame, "it's over Fishbait."

Naruto raised one eyebrow and opened his mouth to respond, but found himself, once again, surrounded by water…a strange sphere of water that was levitating above the ground. "_**Suirō no Jutsu**_; Water Prison Technique," commented the Akatsuki member. "You're completely immobilized. Forfeit…or I can take off a leg," he offered hopefully.

"Fine," grunted the blonde, "you win." The water surrounding him collapsed suddenly, and he fell to the earth, chest heaving slightly. Naruto turned his head slightly and caught sight of a second Kisame behind him, which promptly collapsed into water. _Damn,_ he thought. He heard a heavy footfall in front of him and looked up to see Kisame standing there, Samehada strapped once again to his back by its leather harness.

"You did better than I thought you would, Fishbait," Kisame told him. "You're no master of either _**Suiton**_ or kenjutsu, but you have enough skill to get by for now."

Naruto grumbled half-heartedly, frustrated that he hadn't gotten closer to beating the giant sword-wielder. "The year is over, and your training is done," spoke a dead voice from the trees. Both ninja looked over to see Itachi standing in front of a sturdy oak, his expression blank. "Kakuzu is about a four hour walk in that direction," he pointed. "Kisame, we have a mission. Let's go."

"Sure thing, Itachi. See you 'round, Fishbait. Maybe next time you'll have a chance at beating me." Kisame flashed one of his patented smirks at Naruto before following Itachi in the opposite direction the ex-Leaf-nin had pointed. Naruto waved a hand in farewell, mildly confused at the abrupt exit, then headed to where Kakuzu was waiting for him.

-l-l-l-

If there was one thing that Naruto would grant Itachi, it was that the man was accurate to a fault. It took just over four hours to find Kakuzu and Fū waiting in a rather large clearing with a small pond nearby. "Brat," Kakuzu greeted as Fū waved, "I hope that your training went well."

"Fine," he replied quickly, trying hard not to compare Kisame and Kakuzu's sadism. "How was yours?" he asked reflexively.

"Fruitful. It is amazing what one can accomplish when one has a competent student." Naruto narrowed his eyes at the tall ninja but chose not to rise to the bait. "Did you get any…_other_ information?"

"…I knew it! The only reason you got Kisame to train me was to gather information on Akatsuki!" he accused.

"It was not the only reason…I also wanted to get rid of you for awhile." Naruto fought the urge to punch his first teacher in the face while Fū tried her hardest not to laugh. "I ask again, what did you learn?"

Naruto told Kakuzu all of the information that he had gathered from Kisame about Akatsuki. The former Taki-nin digested it all with an unchanging expression, waiting until the blonde was done talking before 'hmm'ing in thought. "While not overly useful, at least you managed to figure out something," Kakuzu admitted. "As a result, I will allow you an opportunity to claim a reward."

"How unusually gracious of you," Naruto deadpanned.

"What's the reward Kakuzu?" Fū asked.

"This year, the biannual Chūnin Exams are being held in Konohagakure," Kakuzu explained. "They are open to all allied countries, meaning that ninja from Ame, Taki, Kusa, and Suna will be there competing against Konoha. If you truly want revenge against Konoha's populace for its treatment against you, the Chūnin Exams will be your best opportunity to infiltrate the country and decide how to do so."

"You'd be willing to enter me in the Chūnin Exams, just to help me get vengeance on my village?"

"You and Fū," corrected the bounty hunter. Naruto cheered and Fū gave him a quick hug in celebration, but Kakuzu interrupted by clearing his throat. "However, you have to defeat me first."

"…Say what?"

"Two-on-one," Kakuzu explained. "If you can kill me just once, I will assist you in entering the Chūnin Exams. If not, we find some pricy ninja to kill, reap the bounties, and you can eventually find your own way to get revenge, if you so desire."

"Okay, so…when do we start?" Fū asked.

"Now," stated the taller ninja, lashing out with both fists. Fū rolled to the left to avoid Kakuzu's same hand, while Naruto, shorter than the girl, bent backwards to avoid the right hand.

"Oof," grunted Naruto, falling on his rear as Fū charged in to attack Kakuzu. She threw a hasty punch that Kakuzu maneuvered around, spinning in almost slow-motion and delivering a powerful roundhouse kick to her back. Fū skidded head over feet along the ground, grinding to a halt a short distance away from where Naruto was currently seated. "Comfortable?" he offered.

Fū coughed once, spitting to the side and rising to her feet. "Extremely," she retorted sarcastically. Naruto grinned in response, waiting until Fū's eyes met his own before exchanging nods with her. The green-haired girl darted around in a semi-circle, stopping fifty feet behind Kakuzu. Naruto rose to his feet and settled into a fighting stance, prompting Kakuzu to raise an eyebrow.

For three seconds, only the wind rustling through the foliage made any motion. Finally, Kakuzu turned around to face Fū instead of Naruto, an action which raised the blonde boy's ire. _What, suddenly she's more important than I am? That bastard…I'll show him!_ He charged then, Fū following suit shortly thereafter.

Five feet away from Kakuzu, Naruto suddenly stopped…and then fell flat on his face. "Your pride will be your undoing one day," critiqued Kakuzu as Fū closed in on him. Naruto looked at his feet, blue eyes widening in surprise at the black tendrils wrapped around them. He quickly followed the trail to where the tendrils disappeared into the bottom of his teacher's cloak. _That's resourceful…I wonder how long that took to master?_

Naruto didn't have long to wonder. Fū arrived on the scene, throwing another, harder punch at Kakuzu, who, unable to dodge, caught it. As Fū reared her other hand back, the black threads holding Naruto lifted from the ground, spinning him around and slinging him in the direction of the pond. "Not again!" he complained, creating a large splash as he hit the water and sunk deep.

Meanwhile, Kakuzu had caught Fū's second punch and the two were locked in a struggle of strength that the older ninja was winning. _Too…weak_, thought Fū, sweating in exertion as Kakuzu pushed her backwards, the black tendrils of _**Jiongu**_ wriggling around her like snakes. Then, struck by inspiration, she used Kakuzu's grip to flip her body, landing both feet in a solid connection with the underside of Kakuzu's chin. His head snapped back and the Nanabi Jinchūriki took advantage of the broken deadlock by back-flipping away.

"Clever," complimented Kakuzu, rolling his neck back into its proper position. "But how will you follow it up?"

"Like this!" shouted a different voice. "_**Suiton: Bakusui Shōha**_; Water Release: Exploding Water Shock Wave!" A medium-sized wave of water rose from the lake, Naruto riding its peak as he directed it towards Kakuzu, Fū back-pedaling swiftly and finding purchase among some tree branches. "Ha!" panted Naruto. "Take _this_!" he cried as the wave broke over Kakuzu.

After half a minute, the water settled into a relatively small area, only a couple inches deep. Fū abandoned the tree she was in, applying chakra to stand on top of the water like Naruto was doing far across from her. "Too much for ya, eh Kakuzu?" taunted Naruto.

"You overestimate your power, brat," responded the bounty hunter, rising slowly from his crouch in-between the two Jinchūriki. "I see that Kisame taught you much more than mere swordsmanship. However," he continued, reaching his full six foot height, "do not presume to defeat a former _**Suiton**_ expert with his own weapon."

Naruto, currently facing the former Taki-nin, scrunched his face in disgust and pointed at Kakuzu. "Ewww," he whined childishly, "what the hell happened to your face?" Kakuzu's eyes darted momentarily to the water, noticing a scrap of black fabric floating away and reaching a hand to feel his head covering. The triangular piece that normally covered his mouth and nose was missing, revealing his full face to Naruto for the first time.

The bridge of Kakuzu's nose looked permanently aged, a crease right below where the mask normally covered; Naruto was distinctly reminded of Itachi and his distinctive premature stress lines just below his eyes. However, the truly disturbing part about Kakuzu was his mouth, over half of which was essentially stitched shut – from what he could see, three loops of thread shut the former Taki-nin's mouth on either side. "Is that a side effect of _**Jiongu**_?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

Kakuzu reached down and picked up the fabric, reattaching it to the white head covering and glaring daggers at the blonde. "Nothing comes without a price," he stated at last, "something I am sure I have taught you already. And everybody ages, something which I thought I would not have to teach you." His piece said, Kakuzu's fists shot forward with lightning quickness, nailing Naruto in the sternum and belly before he could react.

The older ninja's hands sunk in a little bit before Naruto turned into water. _A Water Clone…he anticipated my move. Perhaps the boy has learned something after all._ "I see that Kisame also taught you how to perform _**Mizu Bunshin**_," Kakuzu called to the air. "That is good; it is a very useful technique, provided you have the water to use it."

"Kisame-sensei did a really good job with my training," affirmed Naruto, rising from the pond. "Granted, I need water to use the _**Bakusui Shōha**_ and he doesn't, and mine definitely isn't as powerful as his, but he did open up my move set a little bit. Now, let's continue," he said, settling into an offensive stance again.

Kakuzu nodded in recognition, but before he could move, found a spike of earth protruding from his chest. "Sorry Kakuzu," commented Fū, a foot-long piece of earth formed around her hand, "but it looks like we win. Nice job distracting him Naruto!" she chirped.

"Not quite," Kakuzu told her, a steely glint in his eyes. Just like Naruto had he dissolved into water, but instead of completely collapsing the liquid flowed around and over Fū, encasing her in a bubble held in place by the _**Mizu Bunshin**_.

"Aw crap," complained Naruto, recognizing the _**Suirō no Jutsu **_his battling partner was now trapped in. He reached behind and placed one hand cautiously on the handle of his sword before gazing around intently, wary of his teacher. "Where are you?" he sing-songed nervously.

That was when a hand reached up through the earth and grabbed Naruto's leg, surprising him. "Ah!" he cried as he was forcibly pulled into the ground up to his shoulders. Kakuzu rose smoothly from the earth, grabbing the tantō from its sheath on Naruto's back and fluidly moving it next to Naruto's throat.

"Yield," he commanded.

Naruto growled in frustration but acquiesced to defeat for the second time that day. The _**Mizu Bunshin**_ holding Fū collapsed, dropping the girl to the ground on hands and knees. Kakuzu brushed miniscule specks of dirt from his shoulders as he manipulated the earth around Naruto by channeling chakra through his feet. The blonde pulled free seconds later, hauling himself out of the ground and irritably swiping his weapon from the bounty hunter.

"I didn't even get to pull off my best moves," pouted Naruto.

"Such a shame," drawled Kakuzu sarcastically. Fū walked over and patted Naruto's shoulder sympathetically. "I am sure your potential must far surpass what you displayed," he continued in the same dry tone.

"You bet!"

"What exactly was the purpose of that exercise?" asked Fū. "Did you really think we would win, or were you just trying to prove a point?"

"The latter," responded the tall ninja. "I wanted to make sure there were no misconceptions about the difference between our power levels, even in a two-on-one fight. Also, I felt that the brat needed to relearn respect, just to knock out any bad habits Kisame may have taught him. Now come; you lost, and we have money to make."

"Actually Kakuzu-san, I'd like to interrupt your plans."

Naruto and Fū's heads snapped around in surprise, a direct contrast to Kakuzu's slow and purposeful turn. Standing under the shade of a copse of trees was a strange woman wearing a black cloak with red clouds, some sort of flower stuck in her blue hair. Naruto, apparently mesmerized by the stud stuck underneath the woman's lower lip, leaned in to Kakuzu without averting his eyes and whispered, "Who's she?"

"I do not know," admitted the other man, "but staring like an idiot does not seem to be getting you anywhere. I was once told by a man named Zetsu," Kakuzu stated a little louder, "that anybody wearing that outfit is a member of Akatsuki."

"That is correct," confirmed the woman. "My name is Konan, and I'm the second-in-command of the organization. Might I have a word with you privately?"

Kakuzu nodded and took a step forward, pausing momentarily to throw over his shoulder, "Listen in and I will kill you." The two Jinchūriki jumped slightly but quickly nodded in understanding. "What do you want?" he demanded upon reaching Konan.

"_We_," she emphasized, "would like you to reconsider your offer to go to the Chūnin Exams."

The former Taki-nin's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How long were you spying on us?"

"Long enough," began Konan, "to know that your students have great potential and that you are the best option we have to complete our plans."

"While your concern for me and my students is touching," he drawled cynically, "I am not in the habit of breaking my word; and since the brats did not beat me, we are not going to Konoha," he finished firmly. Kakuzu turned around and prepared to walk away, but was stopped by what Konan said next.

"We know you are in possession of the Nanabi." The older ninja refocused his attention upon the blue-haired woman, silently prompting her to continue. "We could easily remove her from your presence, if we so desired. Even you could not stand against so many other S-Class missing-nin."

"…I will hear you out."

"Thank you," Konan bowed. "You have heard of Orochimaru?"

"Orochimaru, renowned as the Snake Sannin of Konoha and one of its most infamous traitors. Few people have not heard of him," he snorted derisively. "Why?"

"We want you to kill him." Kakuzu raised an eyebrow at this statement.

"While not entirely outside the realm of possibility, the fight would be a difficult one," Kakuzu conceded. "Tell me why."

"Thirteen years ago, Orochimaru joined Akatsuki after defecting from Konoha," Konan explained indifferently. "When Uchiha Itachi joined seven years later, Orochimaru attempted to steal his body, but ended up failing. He was forced to flee the organization, taking his ring with him."

"His ring?" Kakuzu interrupted.

"The rings are the most important symbol of a person's affiliation with Akatsuki," she told him, flashing her own ring in the process. "However, that's merely one reason we want him gone. Orochimaru's current plans involve the 12-year-old container of the Ichibi."

"The One-Tail…and from what Zetsu has told me, that would interfere with your plans. I can only assume that this container will be present at the Chūnin Exams," Kakuzu extrapolated.

Konan nodded. "From the intelligence we've been able to gather thus far, he plans on using the powers of the Jinchūriki to invade Konoha and take vengeance upon the village by destroying it."

"A universal plan, it seems," muttered the bounty hunter. "What if I refuse to cooperate?"

Konan's eyes darted to where Fū and Naruto were standing. "We'll take her and extract the Bijū, killing her in the process." Kakuzu seemed to consider it for a moment, prompting Konan to finish her offer. "We're also allowing you to keep the money his head is worth."

"Done," agreed Kakuzu without hesitation. _That is too large a sum of money to pass up simply because of principle._ "However, the brats will need a third teammate. If you would like my services, you need to provide a competent and obedient person who can serve as one."

Konan remained silent for a long moment, her eyes appearing slightly unfocused. "Very well," she conceded at length, returning her attention to Kakuzu. "Your last student will be waiting for you at one of our hideouts within the Fire Country, near the border with the Rice Field Country. We appreciate your cooperation Kakuzu-san." That said, Konan's figure seemed to ripple, breaking apart into hundreds of pieces of paper before being carried away by the wind.

Kakuzu watched her disappear in silence. _The ninja of Akatsuki have very unique abilities. I would fit in quite easily…and would also do well to remain on their good side. Even with my skill, working against them would probably be more of a hindrance than a benefit. Interesting._ He walked over to his students – who were currently engaged in a Rock-Paper-Scissors battle – and kicked both of them. "Get up," he commanded. "It appears that you will get your wish after all."

"What do you mean?" asked Fū, standing up alongside Naruto.

The tall ninja sighed wearily. "Despite my desire to contrary, we are headed to Konoha."

"Really?" Naruto exclaimed, exciting visibly pulsing throughout his body. "Even though we lost to you? What'd that lady say?"

"Do not look a gift horse in the mouth, brat!" snapped Kakuzu. "For now, simply accept your stroke of good fortune. Let us depart…we must pick up your wayward third teammate to be eligible for the Chūnin Exams. Another headache to look forward to," he grumbled.

As Kakuzu led Naruto and Fū west toward the Rice Field Country, the two Jinchūriki high-fived in victory, discussing in quiet tones the upcoming Chūnin Exams.

-l-l-l-

A large quantity of paper fluttered into the center of a large forest in the very southeastern part of the Fire Country. They formed together to reveal Konan, looking no worse for wear despite the strange method of travel. She held her ring – which displayed the character _byakko_ – up to a sturdy tree, revealing a white sheet of paper that looked to be part of some sort of sealing technique. The blue-haired woman walked straight into the tree, causing it to ripple slightly, and descended down a stairwell into a humongous open cavern.

The cavern was void of all but two objects, one of which was near the back. A massive stone statue stood there, the top of which came only a couple hundred feet shy of hitting the ceiling. Spikes jutted out from behind the face, which possessed nine eyes – two rows of four with a giant one in the middle to make the face symmetrical – all of which were closed. A stone scroll, with a chain running through it, was held by the statue's mouth, and two large hands – handcuffed together – jutted up from the ground, coming to about the statue's chin.

The other figure was, surprisingly enough, even more imposing than the statue – a man of average build with spiky orange hair and the traditional cloak of Akatsuki. He turned around upon hearing footfalls, his ringed grey eyes – a series of concentric circles – boring holes into the new arrival. "Kakuzu accepted the terms we set forth," stated Konan. Receiving no acknowledgment that she was heard, she continued, "What are our plans Pein?"

The grey-eyed man stayed completely silent, but despite his unnerving stare and emotionless façade, Konan waited patiently for an answer. "Kakuzu has agreed to take care of Orochimaru," Pein remarked at length, "who has been a thorn in our side for far too long. Even if he has never acted directly against us, his defection and plans have stalled us unnecessarily."

"I still don't understand why we didn't just take him out when we had the chance," Konan pointed out.

Pein blinked slowly, remaining perfectly still. "The Snake Sannin is clever and resourceful. He has contacts in most of the countries the world over, and knows how to stay under the radar and manipulate the underground. Until now, we have been spread too thin to dedicate resources to attack him, but with Zetsu's most recent information –"

"We can finally begin our real plans," finished Konan. "The Bijū."

Konan's partner nodded once. "Correct. Zetsu and Sasori have managed to piece together enough information to deduce that Orochimaru plans on using Ichibi no Shukaku to destroy Konohagakure during the third portion of the Chūnin Exams."

"I know," Konan intoned impatiently, "you made sure that I knew at least that much to get Kakuzu on board."

"However, what Orochimaru doesn't know is that we will also be there," Pein told her. "And we will capitalize on his upcoming failure."

The blue-haired woman nodded in understanding. "So what about the girl?"

"I can only assume you are referring to Nanabi no Kabutomushi," Pein guessed. At Konan's confirming nod, he continued, "For now, we leave her. Kakuzu is a valuable asset and we would do well to not endanger our current partnership with him by overextending our reach. What was his relationship with the children?"

Konan's eyes adopted a faraway look, trying to recall her conversation with Kakuzu. "I don't know the man well enough to make an accurate judgment. He might care enough to pose an obstacle when we target the Nanabi, but if there's more incentive for him in her death, he would probably go along with the plan."

"Then we leave her alone," Pein repeated, "along with the boy."

Konan arched one perfectly thin eyebrow in confusion. "The boy…you mean the blonde kid with him?"

Pein turned around, eyeing all nine closed eyes of the giant statue. "Yes. Or, if you'd prefer, the Jinchūriki of Kyūbi no Yōko, the most powerful of the Tailed Beasts."

The woman's eyes widened by a fraction. "What? When did you find this out?"

"Itachi told me earlier today when I assigned him and Kisame their newest mission," Pein explained. "Since the Kyūbi needs to be sealed last anyway, it would appear to be doubly beneficial to keep Kakuzu near us as much as possible, especially following the Chūnin Exams. Keeping track of the two Jinchūriki will be much easier with their teacher close at hand and their power already in our clutches."

"So…we wait until the right time then," concluded Konan.

"Yes." _Soon enough, our plans will begin in earnest. _The orange-haired man stared at the second eye from the left on the top row of eyes. _One down, eight to go. Then, the world shall finally know peace…through true pain._

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** **(EDITED 9/14/10) **Okay, so, first of all, thank you all for reviewing the last chapter; I have reached 100 reviews (though the 100th didn't really count - see my profile for a mini rant if you'd like) and I have to admit that I can't believe I got this far this fast. Anyway, I tried to respond to anyone who had questions, barring the one or two people who asked about Akatsuki because I've had this chapter planned out exactly like this since I began writing the story and didn't want to spoil the chapter. Hopefully this explains and answers all of your questions about Akatsuki's current role in the story. Due to the sheer amount of questions I've had regarding them, I opted to write this chapter and finish out the small "Naruto's Training" arc before going back to my other story.

Speaking of which, yes, I chose to incorporate the Chūnin Exams. I'm not entirely sure how many people will approve of this, but it's my story, so I'm willing to accept the consequences. However, I feel that this will be the place to truly expand upon Naruto's and Fū's abilities, and show exactly how well Kakuzu has trained his two students. It'll be somewhat different from how it played out in the anime/manga (obviously), so hopefully that'll keep you interested enough to keep going with this story.

Lastly - and this may prove to be a mistake, but I'm willing to try it - I am willing to admit that I am not the most creative person out there (some people might find this shocking), and while I have some ideas for Fū's ninjutsu skill set, I'd like to know if anyone else would like to contribute. If you'd like, feel free to create **_Jinton_** (Dust Release) techniques (and ONLY these ones please) for me to use. I'm not looking for anything overly powerful right now (though I may use them later), but if you would like to help me out, either in a PM or a review, you can leave a technique(s) with the following: 1) Japanese name and English translation, 2) what it does/what the attack is, 3) how it activates/special requirements (hands to the ground, palms towards opponent, etc.), and anything else you can think of. Keep in mind that I may not use the technique (or may not use it yet), or may have to edit it slightly to work, but I will credit the creator in whatever chapter I use it in as well as thank them personally. So if you have any ideas, please feel free to let me know. I'll be working on my own techniques in the meantime.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this installment, and I'll see you all again in a bit!


	7. Obstacles

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto_.

"Ah, Kakuzu-san, **so good to see you again."**

Naruto and Fū both jumped as the strangest person they had ever seen emerged from a tree. His face and upper body were two colors – half-black, half-white – and he possessed yellow eyes (one of them pupil-less) along with light green hair. A large Venus Fly Trap engulfed and protected his head, making him seem more plant than human, especially with what little they could see of him.

Naruto was still fixated on the fact that this…_person_…had just morphed out from a _tree_.

On the other hand, Kakuzu appeared to be relatively unfazed. "Zetsu," he greeted, "I had a suspicion that you would show up."

Zetsu merely stared at the tall ninja unblinkingly.

With just under a week before the Chūnin Exams would begin, Kakuzu and his pupils had taken their time traveling from their training spot to the Rice Field Country. The 7-hour trek had led them past the Valley of the End, the last battlefield between Konoha co-founders Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara. Naruto and Fū were in awe at the sight of the awesome statues and powerful falls.

Kakuzu had remained oppressively silent, and Naruto thought that perhaps the bounty hunter had scowled at the Senju's statue as they passed.

About 10 miles away from the Valley of the End, the strange man whom Kakuzu referred to as Zetsu had popped out of a tree. As Kakuzu and Zetsu engaged in conversation, both kids were shocked to realize that the newcomer had two personalities. Apparently, Kakuzu had already become acquainted with this trait of the Akatsuki member, for he seemed to be unalarmed by the contradicting voices.

"How have you been, Kakuzu-san?" implored White Zetsu politely. **"Do not engage him," **snarled Black Zetsu, **"we are here for one purpose only, at the command of Leader-sama."**

"That seems to be the general trend of things," Kakuzu commented dryly.

**"Leader-sama is a man worthy of respect,"** Zetsu informed him, **"but enough of this idle chitchat. We have other places to be. **Come, we will show you to your target." Zetsu unmerged completely from the tree, walking towards a rather large rock embedded in the ground. Three sets of eyes followed him.

The Akatsuki member held forth his right hand, and Kakuzu briefly saw the glint of a ring, positioned on a different finger than the one Konan had flashed him. The rock in front of the plant-man slid slowly to the side, revealing a man-sized hole in the ground. Kakuzu could only conclude that the rings allowed members access to hideouts that were otherwise off limits to lower minions.

**"Your requested third teammate is waiting in there," **said Zetsu, and Naruto almost thought that he sounded snippy. **"We have other errands to run.** Be nice," warned Zetsu's white side, "Harō is a good boy; treat him well." With that, Zetsu disappeared into the ground, two-thirds of his audience wide-eyed at the ability.

The trio descended into the hole, the rock moving back into place to conceal the opening once Kakuzu's head cleared. Dim lamps hanging from the walls illuminated the short staircase that opened into a much larger chamber, a circular area about 500 feet in diameter.

Naruto was surprised to see the sheer amount of supplies that had been stored within the cavern. Ninja attire from multiple villages hung in neat rows along the walls; Naruto could easily pinpoint the standard Chūnin and Jōnin flak jackets as well as ANBU armor of both Cloud and Leaf, with a massive surplus of the latter. Rain and Waterfall outfits, while not as plentiful, could still be spotted interspersed among the two Great Nations, along with some strange attire with notable black and gray camouflage patterns. Hanging next to each village's clothing were rows of _hitae-ate_, the one next to the unfamiliar clothing bearing a musical note. Naruto moved closer, deciding he wanted a closer look at the objects of the unknown village.

Meanwhile, Fū had stepped in the opposite direction and had begun to admire the stock of weapons. Crates of kunai and shuriken sat against the wall, along with several smaller boxes of paper bombs. Spools of ninja wire and stacks of senbon – the sharp, needle-like tools used by some medical ninja – lay in neat piles nearby. Multiple umbrellas – a weapon commonly affiliated with Amegakure ninja – were hung by their handles from hooks protruding from the wall. Also littering the wall were other weapons; Fū identified several tantō (taken from Leaf ANBU, she guessed), a couple of tonfa, two katana, and a kusarigama before her knowledge of swords ran out. Several scrolls also hung from the cavern wall, and the girl wondered briefly at the army that could be prepared with the supplies they were currently surrounded by.

Kakuzu's interest had been immediately drawn to a point halfway between where his two wayward pupils were standing. "I presume that you are the third student Zetsu mentioned," he intoned. At these words, Naruto and Fū both turned their heads in the direction Kakuzu's voice seemed to be directed.

A boy sat on a crate, his right arm hung loosely over his bent knee. He had short, unruly cobalt blue hair and skin a shade darker than pale. The boy jumped off the crate, revealing himself to be slightly taller than Naruto and possessing stoic, stormy gray eyes. He was garbed in a black cloak with red trim (a duplicate of the Akatsuki cloaks without any red clouds) and a gray armor piece which was wrapped around his torso. "My name is Harō," he said by way of explanation. His voice was soft, but the way his eyes flicked from person to person showed Kakuzu that he was more analytical than shy. Harō bowed slightly and added, "You must be Kakuzu. I have been informed that I am to follow your instructions."

Kakuzu smirked beneath his mask. "Ah, a child I would have no problem teaching. He recognizes power and is respectful –" Naruto scowled "—and he does not wear a garish uniform." Fū placed her hands on her hips and huffed indignantly. "Tell me boy, what are your abilities?"

Harō's eyes flickered from Naruto to Fū, as if unsure whether to divulge information in front of them. _An intelligent Genin_, Kakuzu noted with satisfaction, _he watches his surroundings and plans his moves accordingly. It seems that this 'Leader' I hear so much about has worthwhile minions under his command_. "Speak," he commanded. "These will be your teammates, and you need to understand each other's skills in order to work properly together."

"I'm a sniper," Harō responded. Naruto's scowl gained a touch of confusion as one of Fū's eyebrows rose. Kakuzu's hard stare prompted the boy to elaborate. "I'm a mainly long-distance ninjutsu user proficient with _**Raiton**_ techniques. Using the constant rain present in Amegakure, I'm able to pinpoint targets from far away and take them out. That's where the majority of my strength is; I'm also a good strategist and have some taijutsu skills, just in case."

"Your leader must be an intelligent man, to use someone with your abilities in such a resourceful fashion," Kakuzu observed.

"Pein-sama is a man worthy of respect!" replied Harō devoutly. "He will save our country by eliminating Hanzō and his group of terrorists!"

The outburst was the first sign that Harō actually cared about something. _Interesting,_ mused the bounty hunter, _it seems his loyalty to Pein – whom I can only presume is Leader – is a pressure point for him. We shall have to be careful of that. However, it also means that he will be completely devoted to this mission so as to please his lord. Excellent._ "Brat, girl, speak."

Fū stepped forward first. "I'm Fū, and I specialize in close- to mid-range combat. My ninjutsu abilities lie in _**Doton**_ and _**Fūton**_, as well as _**Jinton**_, a combination of the two; it's an inherited trait," she explained quickly. "I have really strong taijutsu and my chakra has special properties that I make use of."

A moment passed before Naruto stepped forward, unwilling to test Kakuzu's temper. "My name's Naruto, and I'm mostly a mid-range specialist with _**Fūton **_and _**Suiton**_ attacks, as well as a couple of _**Doton**_. I'm adequate at kenjutsu and can also hold my own in taijutsu."

If Kakuzu were a more expressive person, he probably would have exhibited a sense of pride in the fact that both his students had fully explained their abilities to a complete stranger without giving away any pertinent information – their Jinchūriki status or Naruto's kinjutsu, for instance. However, since Kakuzu was not that type of man, he quickly shoved that thought to the back of his mind before ordering Harō to tell them what he knew of the mission.

"Not much," offered the cobalt-haired boy with a shrug, "I was just told to wait here by the plant-guy until someone came. Oh, the plant-guy did say that we were to attend the Chūnin Exams as ninja from the Hidden Rain," he added.

This announcement caused Kakuzu to frown. While he knew that they couldn't waltz into Konoha as they were, the idea that they would have to disguise themselves as Ame-nin was not one he was looking forward to.

Of course, his first student had already taken matters into his own hands. "Here," said Naruto, picking Genin attire from the Amegakure section of clothes, "this looks like everything we'll need." He walked over to Harō and deposited a bunch of clothes into his arms, throwing another set at Fū. Kakuzu eyed the blonde critically as he was given his own, rather large, bundle of ninja gear. "I guess that you have to wear this stuff too, huh Kakuzu?" he mentioned.

"Keep to your corners, or else," threatened the older ninja. He glared at Naruto – about to protest that there were no corners in the round cavern – until the blonde turned around. It wasn't a matter of being self-conscious, but if he had to don such a ridiculous outfit, he would do it without more comments about his strange body. The reveal of the mouth-stitches during his battle with his students was plenty enough for now.

Ten minutes later, all four were dressed in standard Ame-nin attire. Naruto and Harō wore an elbow-length gray shirt over a blue shirt, with a pale green scarf wrapped loosely around their necks. Dark blue pants with four light blue stripes along the sides ended in black ninja shoes; each boy had a tan kunai pouch attached at the back of their pants, and their arms were wrapped from elbow to wrist in bandages. Lastly, both had donned the _hitae-ate_ of Amegakure – a metal band with four vertical lines attached to blue cloth; Harō wore his tilted and just off-center of his forehead (and muttered quietly about how he missed his own, slashed-through mark), while Naruto had been forced by Kakuzu to wear a full dark blue head covering ("How many people in Konoha have bright yellow hair?" demanded the bounty hunter when Naruto whined).

Fū was dressed in much the same fashion, wearing a red undershirt instead of blue and skin-tight pants that ended just above her knee. Her _hitae-ate_ was tied around her right bicep, and the red cylindrical object she carried previously remained in place on her back.

It took a strong amount of self-restraint for Naruto not to comment on Kakuzu's current condition, considering the bounty hunter was never seen without his typical cloak, head covering, and mask. The former Taki-nin had been forced to wear a long-sleeved black shirt and pants, with the standard Jōnin green flak jacket over that. A dark blue material – a rain cloak, Naruto surmised – was draped over his shoulders and fell to his mid-forearm, the cloth open in the front for mobility. Like the Genin, Kakuzu had wrapped bandages around the rest of his forearms down to the wrist, and kept a brown kunai pouch attached to his pants at the back. In order to keep himself fully covered, he had also donned a full head covering with the Rain Village affiliation on it, as well as a complex looking breathing apparatus to hide the remainder of his facial features. "Get your supplies," he ordered gruffly, clearly unhappy with the way things were going.

Naruto and Harō approached the kunai and shuriken crates, quickly loading their pouches with the weapons. Fū walked over to the wall of weapons and pulled several umbrellas from their perch, checking to make sure they were fully equipped with senbon. She placed those in the red case on her back, the handles up, and then filled her own weapons pouch with extra senbon. As Harō went to examine the weapons, she turned and flashed Kakuzu a victorious grin. "Told ya I'd find a use for this thing."

"Congratulations," he deadpanned, "it only took you a year to do so. Bring whatever food from here that you can carry. I refuse to waste any money on pampering you brats while we are within the Hidden Leaf."

"Ah, that's not necessary Kakuzu-san," interrupted Harō, walking toward him while strapping a pair of katana – each with two smaller, oppositely curved blades, one near the base, the second close to the top – to his back. "Pein-sama has provided me with the funds we'll need in order to survive behind enemy lines."

"Very well," conceded Kakuzu after a moment. "Come, let us depart." He turned around and led the way out of the hideout, Naruto, Fū, and Harō following not far behind.

-l-l-l-

The trip to the center of the Fire County, where Konohagakure was located, was far more active than Fū would have expected. Harō – who had no previous biases about anyone in the group – remained noticeably silent, observing his new teammates with growing curiosity. However, the thrill of the Chūnin Exams had apparently instilled an even greater sense of mischief within Naruto than she had thought possible.

"So we get to call you Kakuzu-sensei now, right?" Naruto asked eagerly. He was a bit too enthusiastic with his questioning, thought Fū; Kakuzu already hated honorifics tacked to his name, and being reminded of it – if the last three times were any indication – did not improve his increasingly sour mood. Wearing clothes he was uncomfortable with and being sent on a mission that he was not in control of seemed to shorten Kakuzu's already dangerously short temper. She noticed Harō watching the scene play out from the corner of his eye.

"No," Kakuzu answered in a clipped tone.

"Aww, c'mon!" Naruto continued to egg, "We need it to solidify our team disguise!"

"No."

Harō cleared his throat. "Actually, it would be practical to refer to you as our sensei, in order to not appear suspicious to any Konoha-nin."

Kakuzu remained silent for a long moment, appearing to fight the urge to do something detrimental to the mission: kill Harō, or Naruto, for instance. "Only when we reach the village," he finally growled.

They settled down that night in a large clearing Kakuzu estimated to be 20 miles away from the village. The bounty hunter told his team that they would arrive sometime in the afternoon the next day. Harō and Fū merely nodded, but Naruto chirped, "Okay Kakuzu-sensei!"

Fū thought that, in the dead silence of the clearing, she could almost hear the final _snap_ of Kakuzu's frayed, hair-thin temper.

Kakuzu's arm detached, quicker than lightning, and grabbed a surprised Naruto around the neck. The blonde's arms flailed wildly as Kakuzu dragged him closer; black threads erupted from beneath the bandages over his wrist and wrapped themselves around Naruto's arms, binding them to his body. Harō took a step forward and began to withdraw his swords, but Fū placed a forceful hand on his shoulder and shook her head: Naruto needed to learn this lesson. The blue-haired boy stopped moving.

The two watched as Kakuzu brought Naruto right up to his face, the breathing apparatus he was forced to wear the only thing separating the two. "Listen well, brat," Kakuzu hissed, his muffled voice coming out even lower and more dangerous than anyone present expected. "I have tolerated your foolishness far longer than I should have, and this childish wordplay and immaturity will cease _immediately_. You should be grateful for the fact that we have embarked on a dangerous mission that we know next-to-nothing about where you get all the benefits and I am forced to engage in a battle I might not be completely prepared for."

He lowered his voice further, so Harō and Fū could no longer hear him. "I never had intention of taking a pupil until I was confronted by you. Now, after steeping years of time and money into your tutoring, I expect you to act like the ninja I have trained you to be. You are the carrier of the _**Jiongu**_, a technique few alive have even heard of, you possess the chakra capacity and abilities of a great ninja, and I have taught you how to survive and thrive within this hell of a world. Must I resort to more drastic measures in order to drill home this lesson?"

Naruto had stopped struggling once Kakuzu's diatribe had begun, and now he stared at the tall ninja with wide, blue eyes. _He's right_, he realized, shame flooding his body and causing it to slump in defeat. _Kakuzu was the first person ever to treat me like I was a human being rather than a piece of dirt. I owe him more than I can ever repay…the least I can do is show him some respect._

When Kakuzu noticed that Naruto seemed to understand his point, the black tendrils around his pupil loosened. "I presume that you have learned your lesson?" Naruto nodded slightly. "Good." Now sufficiently calm, Kakuzu started to place Naruto down, but then seemed to think better of it. He pitched his arm back and then threw Naruto forward, releasing the blonde so he impacted head-first into a tree 20 feet away.

"Ah, Kakuzu-san, that doesn't seem like the way to treat your student."

Kakuzu scowled. "Zetsu…I thought you had errands to run."

"**This one was the most prudent,"** replied Zetsu, stepping out from the tree and right over Naruto. "You almost hit me with him," whined Zetsu's white-half.

"My apologies," Kakuzu told him drolly. "It appears I will have to work on my aim in the future. Why are you here?"

"**We had to finalize plans for your mission. **Here are the passes which will allow you entry into the Leaf Village," the plant-man said, handing Kakuzu four slips of paper. **"It was no mean feat getting those passes. **We had some help," he admitted. Naruto, pulling himself to his feet, glanced into the copse of trees behind him and caught sight of a blood-red pair of eyes before they melded into the darkness.

_Itachi_, thought Naruto, turning his attention back to the conversation. Whatever needed to be said had apparently been said though, for Zetsu immediately disappeared into the ground. Naruto thought he might've heard the plant-man's lighter side laughing – at what, he didn't know – but brushed it off as a trick of his imagination.

"Your passes," Kakuzu said, handing them each one of the slips of paper. On it was their respective headshot, along with their name, village affiliation, and the fact that they had permission to enter the Leaf Village for participation in the Chūnin Exams.

Naruto looked at the name on his paper and frowned. "Why is my name 'Shinobu'?"

His question prompted Fū into examining her own sheet of paper. The girl also frowned before looking over Harō's shoulder; the frown grew deeper. "My name's 'Kazu'…why does Harō get to keep his name?"

Kakuzu used his thumb and forefinger to rub his forehead, massaging the growing headache and rage that he was still nursing from his tantrum with Naruto. "It is possible that either of you may be recognized by name – or even appearance, disguises aside – during our stay in Konohagakure. As such, it was apparently decided that you would be forced to use aliases, just in case someone from your former villages recognize you. Harō is an unknown entity, and thus could keep his own name because there is no detriment to the mission. My name has also been altered." He held up his pass so they could see that he had been registered as 'Izo'; underneath that, he was identified as a Jōnin instructor. "I am no more pleased about it than you are, however, we must play with the roles we are assigned...for now."

He sighed, the breath coming out frustrated. "Upon our arrival in Konoha, we shall use the names we have been given. And I…will be Izo-sensei." The bounty hunter almost spat the name, as if it were a curse. When Kakuzu turned away and stalked into the nearby foliage muttering curses, the three teammates took that as the cue that they were to sleep.

The quartet was up and walking just after dawn the following day. Several hours after noon, they arrived at the large welcoming gates of the Hidden Leaf Village. The Chūnin guards at the gate asked them for their passports, checked the papers, and waved them through. Kakuzu muttered something about "lax security" when they were out of earshot, and both Naruto and Fū were forced to hide their grins.

The remainder of the day was slow. Kakuzu followed a group of Kusa-nin to the hotel that was designated for all incoming foreign ninja. As they walked through the city, the three children tried not to gape in awe at the sights, their heads turning every which way to better see the village.

Kakuzu went directly into his room, closing and locking the door upon reaching the hotel. His three students collapsed onto their own beds, stripping off some of their more cumbersome clothing. Kakuzu had kept them moving at a brisk pace all morning with almost no rest or food; despite their training and stamina, foreign clothes and Fire Country's humidity made for uncomfortable traveling conditions.

When Naruto awoke the next day, it was to sunlight streaming in through a small slit in the window curtains, and not the standard kick from his teacher. He yawned loudly, opening bleary eyes to watch Fū step out of the bathroom in her Rain ninja outfit. Harō's bed was empty, and the door to Kakuzu's room was open, presenting its emptiness to him as well. He scratched his head and yawned again, shooting Fū a confused look. "Harō left to explore the city a little bit; Kakuzu's working on gathering information about the exams for us," she explained.

"Ah," he responded, tongue and mind still thick with sleep. "How about I shower and dress, and then we go explore the city?"

"Sounds good," agreed the female Jinchūriki.

It took half an hour for Naruto to prepare for the day, mostly due to the fact that he didn't want to wear the full head covering to hide his blonde hair. The pair wandered the village, taking more time than they had the previous day to observe its citizens. Naruto, who hadn't seen Konoha since he left seven years prior, found the walk quieter than he remembered. It took a moment to realize that the villagers – whom before would scowl, curse at him, and whisper about him – merely ignored him. He wasn't sure whether to view the lack of attention was a positive sign or not.

He did find it strange that Kakuzu's training seemed to have permanently imbedded itself into his brain. When he and Fū passed a training field where a Genin team was being trained by a tall, silver-haired man, a voice that sounded suspiciously like the bounty hunter's whispered in his mind, _Hatake Kakashi, known as Copy Ninja Kakashi and Kakashi of the Sharingan, rumored to have copied more than 1,000 ninjutsu techniques. Genin at 5, Chūnin at 6, Jōnin at 13, and ANBU member for several years afterwards; he possesses extraordinary insight and analytical abilities, and has a claim on his head in almost every nation. He is worth 70 million ryō._

Naruto shook his head to clear the string of information from it. While useful, he – and to a more worrying extent, Kakuzu –was unable to bounty hunt within Konoha's walls without giving away their underlying purpose for being there. A growl of frustration ripped from his throat when they passed another team outside a barbeque restaurant, the voice murmuring, _Sarutobi Asuma, estranged son of the Sandaime Hokage; former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja, and possessor of a strong Wind affinity. His head is worth 35 million ryō._

After another three internal monologues of people he recognized from the Bingo Book, Naruto quit fighting the feeling. He supposed that, once they were outside the city's walls, his ability to remember such important information would prove invaluable. It was only after eating a hearty lunch at Ichiraku Ramen that Naruto's 'Bingo Book sense' came across a peculiarity.

Fū nudged him when he stopped in the middle of the road, eyes set on a far-off figure that appeared to be walking towards them on its hands. As the person neared, Naruto identified him – for the person was definitely masculine – as possessing a horrible bowl-cut of black hair set over thick black eyebrows, wearing a solid green spandex jumpsuit and orange legwarmers. _Maito Gai, taijutsu specialist,_ began the voice, but as it blathered on and the person neared, Naruto's own thought of, _I thought he would be taller_, surfaced.

The blonde didn't even seem to register the fact that 'Maito Gai' had come within speaking distance of him and Fū. "Yosh!" cried the hand-walker. "Excuse me, Rain Ninja-san, but you appear to be blocking my path." He jumped to his feet, bowing low. "I assume you are here for the Chūnin Exams; is there something I can help you with?"

"Are you Maito Gai?" Naruto asked impulsively.

The green-clad boy's eyes immediately overflowed with tears. "YOSH! Gai-sensei's legacy has spread even to the water-logged fields of Amegakure! I am proud of hear that his accomplishments have gone so far!" One of Naruto's eyebrows started twitching, and Fū had a large sweat-drop rolling down the side of her face. "Alas, I fear you have made a mistake! My name is Rock Lee, and I am Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast! And who are you?"

"Na – uh! – Shinobu," corrected the blonde, shooting Fū a grateful glance for catching his mistake. He rubbed his ribs where Fū had nudged him. _Strong_, he winced.

"Kazu," added Fū, inclining her head slightly. "We had best be on our way. It was a pleasure to meet you, Rock Lee."

"You too, Kazu and Shinobu of the Rain Village!" shouted Lee exuberantly. "May your Springtime of Youth never fade!" Lee then flipped over onto his hands and continued his walk through the village, the two Jinchūriki watching him go.

"…He is very strange," commented Fū at length. Naruto could only nod mutely.

Discovering the peculiarity of the Genin of the Hidden Leaf was the first strange incidence of the day. Naruto could safely say he was glad he had gotten out of the village before he had been infected with whatever turned normal ninja into _that_. Lee was someone to watch out for though; in the ninja world, the stronger you were, the more peculiarities you had to compensate for the types of missions you went on. Kakuzu and Kisame, at the very least, fit into that stereotype extremely well.

The second problem the two Jinchūriki encountered that day came in the form of the three Sand ninja they ran into on the way back to the hotel. The tallest of the three was a male wearing a full black body suit with a black hood, purple face paint, and a bulky, bandaged package on his back. The female of the group wore her blonde hair in four pigtails in the back, along with a pale lavender outfit, fishnet stockings, and a giant battle fan. However, it was the third, shortest member of the trio that ended up causing a problem.

He possessed hair the color of dried blood and skin the same color as Harō's. His clothing consisted of a black body suit shorter than the other boy's, the sleeves going only halfway down his biceps; from the edge of the sleeves to just above the elbow he wore fishnet. A long white sash hung over his right shoulder and crossed his body to his upper left hip, the loose ends of the sash moving in the breeze in both the front and rear of his body. From his left shoulder to the other hip crossed a brown, leather band – similar to Kisame's, Naruto noted – with multiple buckles; connected to the leather was a large gourd with black markings on it. Black sandals covered his feet, and bandages were wrapped around his ankles. A tattoo with the kanji for 'love' was imprinted upon his forehead, and dead teal eyes peered out from black-rimmed sockets.

The red-haired male stopped suddenly when they were about to cross paths with Naruto and Fū, causing his two teammates to stop as well. He stared at the pair intently for a solid thirty seconds before Fū groaned and clutched her stomach in pain. "_SHUKAKU," _buzzed a voice in her head before lapsing into silence.

"You," spoke the red-head with a voice as dry as the desert. Naruto wasn't sure whether the boy was talking to himself or Fū, but hearing him speak gave him the creeps; it was like talking to Itachi, only his own age. "You're like me." His teal eyes were focused on Fū, and Naruto became distinctly uncomfortable with the gaze on his friend; the boy's two teammates also seemed rather nervous at the initiation of conversation. "I will kill you to validate my existence," he finished. Naruto gulped; the way he said it, the proclamation was a fact, like if Kakuzu walked up to him and said 'I like money'.

Naruto's fists clenched and he stepped forward slightly in order to partially shield Fū from view. "You can try," he uttered with more confidence than he felt, "but you won't succeed."

Not a flicker of emotion passed over the other boy's face. "You have a strong will," he said after a moment, "but that will not be enough to save you. Or her. When we meet in the Chūnin Exams, you will die." The red-head and his two teammates continued on their way.

When they passed Naruto, the blonde felt a stirring in his mind, as if something in there was restless. "What's your name?" he asked, trying to calm the unease he felt in his body.

"…Sabaku no Gaara," responded the red-head. "You and your Rain ninja brethren will satisfy Mother." Naruto didn't have anything to say in response, and so Gaara and his two teammates walked on, the blonde's bright blue eyes on them until they disappeared around a corner.

"C'mon," Naruto prodded, helping the recovering Fū get to her feet. "Let's get back to the hotel and tell Ka – Izo-sensei about our new friend." Together they managed to get back to their room without any more distractions, Fū recovering from her brief bout of pain just inside the front doors.

Upon reaching their room, Naruto noticed that neither Kakuzu nor Harō had returned. He guided his companion to her bed and helped her sit down, despite protests that she was fine. Naruto sat down across from her and eyed her speculatively. "What was that?" he blurted.

"I'm guessing an insane Genin native to Sunagakure," Fū replied snippily.

Naruto shot her a look. "Not him, you. What was with the sudden stomach pain?" he clarified. There was a brief pause before he slowly added, "Come to think of it, you had the same reaction when we met."

Fū shrugged. "The beetle likes to talk to me sometimes."

"The bee – I have an idea," Naruto broke off. He settled himself into a cross-legged position, holding out his hands palms down. "Grab my hands and close your eyes," he ordered. She complied, clasping their hands together and allowing her eyelids to flutter shut. Naruto closed his own eyes and evened out his breathing, settling into a meditation technique that Kisame had taught him early on in their training.

The blonde had visited his mindscape once before, after falling unconscious upon his summoning of the Chameleon Boss. Then it had been an accident, a byproduct of chakra loss and exhaustion. This time, he was attempting to accomplish an even more daring feat: entering his mindscape intentionally, and also bringing someone with him.

After several minutes, Naruto opened his eyes. He was ankle-deep in sewer water, hands clasped firmly with Fū's. "Hey," he whispered, "we're here." The green-haired girl opened her pink orbs, gazing around in a mixture of awe and disgust.

They stood in the sewer water that she assumed was indicative of Naruto's mindscape. Over Naruto's shoulder she could see a field of wilted flowers, the sign of her own mindscape. About 200 feet beyond her lay a series of honey-colored bars set up in a beehive shape. Held within the cage was huge creature, possessing a blue upper body with a thick carapace, under which were set six multi-jointed limbs, each ending in a green, serrated hand. Large horn-like extensions jutted forth from each shoulder, its head, and its upper and middle back; a pair of wickedly sharp mandibles was connected to a helmet-like structure which hid the creature's eyes. The creature's thorax was colored a bright green, separating into seven tail-like appendages, six of which had red, orange, and yellow wings sprouting from them. Fū scowled – this was the home of her Bijū, Nanabi no Kabutomushi, the Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle which had made her life miserable for as long as she could remember. _"FŪ…KYŪBI_," it buzzed, its raspy voice turning angrier at the second name.

_Kyūbi?_, thought Fū, confused. Then she heard the roar.

_**"**__**RELEASE ME FROM THIS PRISON, YOU WORTHLESS SACK OF FLESH!"**_

Wide-eyed, Fū whipped around and laid claim to the sight of a giant – larger than the Nanabi – nine-tailed fox, with a red-orange pelt and cruel, intelligent, blood-red eyes, held beyond jail cell bars. The fox raised one giant paw and crashed it through the gate, coming within ten feet of the Jinchūriki's position. _**"DAMN THIS SEAL. DAMN THE FOURTH HOKAGE. I WOULD RIP YOU TO SHREDS IF IT WEREN'T FOR THIS CURSED SEAL AND THE FACT THAT IT WOULD KILL ME TOO," **_it growled, frustrated. Naruto stepped in front of Fū, as if to shield her from the Kyūbi. The movement also afforded Fū the opportunity to avert her eyes without appearing weak. Something to the right caught her attention, and she focused upon it while Naruto had a staring contest with the Bijū within him.

Out of her periphery, she had absently noticed that the area to her left seemed to be an endless expanse of hallway. To the right, about 15 feet after the caged bars ended, was a mass of black threads that spanned the entire hallway, completely obstructing the path. Thick strands branched out and connected to the wall, ceiling, and floor, stabilizing the entire web-like structure. In the center of the web were two masks: one with blue markings in the shape of a hippo, the second a bear mask with red designs. This strange web design, Fū guessed, must've been representative of Naruto's _**Jiongu**_ ability. Etched in the foot of stone at the top of the hallway were crude pictures of chameleons, the internal representation of Naruto's connection to the Chameleon Summoning Contract.

The female Jinchūriki refocused her attention on Naruto and Kyūbi in time to hear the beast growl, _**"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME, KIT? I HAVE LITTLE REASON OR MOTIVATION TO GRANT YOU ASSISTANCE, UNLESS I AM SOMEHOW BENEFITTED BY IT. AND WHY IS THE FLY HERE?"**_

_"__I AM NO FLY,"_ rasped the Nanabi, whipping the non-winged tail through its cage and producing a thunderous _crack_ against the ground. _"__I AM NANABI NO KABUTOMUSHI, BRINGER OF DUST STORMS AND WHIRLWINDS, CAPABLE OF DISABLING THE CHAKRA OF ANYTHING THAT GETS CAUGHT IN MY WINDS. I RAVAGED THE PLAINS OF IWAGAKURE WHILE THE TALE OF YOUR CAPTURE SPREAD TO OUR REMAINING BRETHREN. I AM THE THIRD MOST POWERFUL BIJŪ IN EXISTENCE, AND I WILL NOT BE DEMEANED BY EVEN YOU, YOU CURSED KITSUNE!"_ bristled the Seven-Tails.

A low, throaty sound emerged from the Kyūbi, and it took both Jinchūriki a moment to realize the giant fox was chuckling. _**"IF THOSE ARE YOUR BOASTS, YOU ARE MORE PATHETIC THAN I REMEMBER. GET THIS DUST MITE OUT OF MY SIGHT, KIT,"**_ demanded the Nine-Tails.

"No," Naruto responded stubbornly, "we need to talk to both of you. This is the most convenient way to do so."

**_"_**_**WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT EITHER I OR THE BUTTERFLY OVER THERE WILL GIVE YOU ANY INFORMATION?"**_ Kyūbi snarled.

_"__I AM _NOT _A BUTTERFLY –"_

"What's 'Shukaku'?" interrupted Fū. The two bickering demons fell silent at the question. "When we came across that Gaara guy, you said 'Shukaku'," she stated slowly, turning to face her Bijū. "What's 'Shukaku'? I want to know if it's a threat to our mission."

Both Bijū began to laugh, Kyūbi's deep and sinister, Nanabi's raspy and grating. _**"SHUKAKU IS HARDLY A THREAT,"**_ the fox chuckled. _**"THAT RUNT MAY POSE A CHALLENGE TO YOU MERE MORTALS, BUT TO US SHUKAKU IS NOTHING."**_

_"__SHUKAKU IS THE WEAKEST OF US ALL,"_ agreed the beetle.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "'Of us all'…" he repeated. "Shukaku's a Bijū?"

Fū slammed one fist into the other palm. "Of course!" she cried. "Gaara said that I'm just like him; he's a Jinchūriki too!"

**_"_**_**THIS 'GAARA'…HE IS FROM THE HIDDEN SAND VILLAGE?"**_ The two children nodded. _**"THEN HIS BEING THE HOST OF SHUKAKU DOES NOT SURPRISE ME. THE SAND VILLAGE HAS KEPT A TIGHT GRASP ON SHUKAKU SINCE THE FOOL'S INITIAL CAPTURE."**_

_"__AS THEY SHOULD," _buzzed Nanabi in agreement. _"OUR SIBLING, ICHIBI NO SHUKAKU – THE ONE-TAILED TANUKI – IS THE MOST CLAIM-TO-FAME THE SAND VILLAGE HAS HAD SINCE ITS FORMATION. IT AND THE WAYWARD PUPPETEER, AKASUNA NO SASORI – SASORI OF THE RED SANDS; AND NO MERE HUMAN CAN COMPARE TO THE POWER OF A TAILED BEAST."_

"So Gaara's also a Jinchūriki," pondered Fū. "We'll have to watch out for him."

Naruto nodded his agreement. "But why did he only sense your Bijū?" he asked, turning to face his companion. She didn't have an answer for him.

**_"_**_**THE SEAL,"**_ growled Kyūbi. _**"THE FOURTH HOKAGE CREATED A UNIQUE AND POWERFUL SEAL TO CONTAIN ME, ONE THAT HAD NEVER BEFORE BEEN USED. AS LONG AS I HOLD NO INFLUENCE OVER YOU, I AM UNDETECTABLE BY MOST EVERYONE. ONLY THE HACHIBI AND THIS ANNOYING INSECT HAVE THE POWER OR ABILITY TO SENSE MY PRESENCE IN THIS STATE."**_ Kyūbi gestured with its large head in the direction of the Seven-Tails across from it.

_"__I SENSE THAT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT," _rasped Nanabi. Kyūbi snorted in reply, but the beetle ignored it. _"AS FŪ_ _KNOWS WELL, THE SEAL THAT BINDS ME TO HER IS A WEAKER ONE, CAPABLE OF CONTAINMENT AND PREVENTING A GOOD DEAL OF MY INFLENCE. HOWEVER, I RETAIN A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF POWER – THE ABILITY TO SENSE THE OTHER BIJŪ_, _AND COMMUNICATION ABILITIES WITH MY HOST."_

"Not that I like to take advantage of that little ability," Fū replied dryly.

_"__WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT, THE EASE WITH WHICH WE TALK HAS COME IN HANDY. CERTAINLY THE SIDE EFFECTS ARE ENTERTAINING TO WITNESS."_ Fū clutched her stomach in memory of the phantom pain she had experienced prior, the pain she felt whenever her Tailed Beast conversed with her.

And then Fū and Nanabi no Kabutomushi disappeared from view. Kyūbi was soon to follow.

"I apologize for putting an end to this rather heartfelt display of affection," spoke a new voice, sounding completely unsympathetic. Naruto groaned; he could recognize the dry, cynical voice of Kakuzu even in his sleep.

"It wasn't affection," protested Naruto, cracking his stiff neck. "We were –" he suddenly noticed Harō standing beside his teacher "—meditating to fully gather information on the Exams." Kakuzu's facial expression didn't change, but Naruto identified skepticism and curiosity within the even stare the tall ninja leveled him with.

"Call it what you will, brat," responded Kakuzu, choosing not to probe just yet. The bounty hunter then proceeded to tell his three students about what he'd uncovered during the day – that the Chūnin Exams consisted of three parts: the first was some form of written test, the second a survival portion, and the third a tournament between competitors. "I have exhausted my patience with collecting intelligence for you," he said when finished, "and as such, I have no desire to assist you anymore." He seemed to believe they could interpret the unspoken threat, for he turned on his heel and walked into his room, slamming the door behind him.

The three children could only exchange looks and shrug.

After Harō left the room the next morning, Naruto knocked lightly on Kakuzu's door. Kakuzu growled, "What?" from inside his conclave.

Naruto gulped and hesitated before answering. "Er…can we talk?" When there was no response, Naruto chose to take the silence as a 'yes'. He opened the door slowly, using it as a shield in case he had misinterpreted his teacher.

"Your meditation," Kakuzu began once Naruto had closed the door, "was what I presume to be a conversation with your Bijū." Naruto bobbed his head in affirmation. "Speak," commanded Kakuzu.

Naruto remained standing, telling Kakuzu about his and Fū's confrontation with Sabaku no Gaara, the ensuing talk with the Kyūbi and the Nanabi, and the deduction that Gaara was the container of another Tailed Beast. Once his tale was done, Naruto watched Kakuzu silently mull over this information.

Finally, the tall ninja said, "Our employer informed me that there would be another Jinchūriki present in the Exams, but I admit that I was not told any other information beyond that. However, he is not your objective; you are to get as far as possible in the Exams to make a good showing and make my movements around the village inconspicuous. Avoid this Gaara child as well as you possibly can, lest you slip up and reveal more of your abilities than strictly necessary."

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki realized that the bounty hunter was done talking and nodded in understanding. He left the room and went to rejoin Fū in the main room to pass on the message.

-l-l-l-

The days until the Chūnin Exams began seemed to drag on, but after what felt like forever, Naruto found himself walking through the village with Fū and Harō at his side. They arrived at Konoha's Ninja Academy, and were soon caught up in the swarm of students gathered outside room 301. "What's going on?" Naruto whispered to Fū, who was the tallest on their team. "We only came up one flight of stairs…"

Fū stood on tiptoe to get a better view. "Two kids are guarding the entrance." She winced slightly. "They just kicked that Rock Lee kid away…and some other girl, too," she added after a moment.

"We should wait for someone else to notice," Harō advised quietly, "so as to not give away our skill level." Naruto remembered Kakuzu's words about avoiding Gaara to keep their power hidden and nodded his agreement.

It only took ten seconds before a raven-haired boy in blue stepped forward. "I will pass," he declared, "once you remove that illusion you've placed on the doorway." Muted whispering followed this announcement, partially muffling the boy's baton-pass to a pink-haired girl, who took over the explanation of why the scene was an illusion.

The sign above the door morphed before the crowd's eyes to read '201'. Naruto nodded his head towards the door. "Let's go," he said, weaving through the throng of Genin. He and his two teammates went through the hallway as Rock Lee and his teammates fell into argument with the raven-haired kid and his pink-haired teammate. "Well, that's one obstacle avoided," Naruto observed.

They entered a large room filled with long benches and Chūnin-hopefuls. Naruto glanced around; just as Kakuzu had said, Genin from the Leaf, Sand, Grass, Rain, and Waterfall were present in varying quantities, as well as what appeared to be only one team with the strange musical note headbands. The blonde wanted to say something, but Fū had taken to trying to hide herself and Harō's gaze was half-lidded with boredom. "What're you doing?" he demanded of Fū.

"You've been gone from your home village for a long time," she whispered fiercely, "and with your outfit, the odds of them recognizing you are slim. I've only been gone from Taki for a year, and my outfit isn't nearly as concealing as yours!"

"…Okay, I see your point, but you're making yourself stand out more by trying to be inconspicuous!" he retorted. The Nanabi Jinchūriki straightened herself slightly, but continued to use Naruto as a shield. The blonde sighed at his friend's antics, but chose to ignore her and scanned the room instead, noting that Lee and his team had entered the room.

"Sasuke-kun!" squealed a platinum blonde-haired girl in a purple top and skirt outfit. She leaped onto the back of the raven-haired boy – who had entered the room with his team behind Lee – and hooked her arms around his neck. While flames erupted in the eyes of the pink-haired girl, two more boys meandered through the crowd towards the ensuing argument.

Just like the day he and Fū met Rock Lee and Sabaku no Gaara, Naruto's mind instantly snapped to 'Bingo Book mode'…except this time, the voice that sounded like Kakuzu spoke about identities rather than numbers. The platinum blonde was a Yamanaka, one of the members of Sarutobi Asuma's team and part of a family proficient in mental manipulations. The two boys who had approached the group – one with hair tied up in a style reminiscent of a pineapple, the other a somewhat chubby lad munching on chips – were her two teammates, a Nara and an Akimichi respectively. Nara clan members were notorious for their mastery over shadows, and the Akimichi were able to manipulate their body and body part sizes to do battle.

If the boy that the Yamanaka was fawning over really was 'Sasuke-kun', then he was the last, loyal member of the prominent Uchiha clan, and one of Hatake Kakashi's students. From what he had read and learned from Kakuzu and Ryo, the Uchiha were to be respected for their skill and _kekkei genkai_, the Sharingan; even as a Genin, he would have to be watched out for. His two teammates, the pink-haired harpy with emerald green eyes and a pale-skinned, black-haired boy in black (who bore a passing resemblance to the Uchiha, Naruto noticed) didn't bear any noticeable clan markings or attributes that Naruto could pinpoint as belonging to a specific clan.

A third team approached, all of its members identifiable. The female had the dark hair and pale, lavender eyes of the legendary Hyūga, renowned worldwide for their unique taijutsu style. Next to her stood a brunette with the red, fang-like facial markings of the Inuzuka; the small white dog sitting atop his head also lent credit to this idea. Their third teammate wore a long overcoat (much like Kakuzu) and dark sunglasses typical of the several Aburame pictured in the Bingo Book.

Naruto's eyes found Lee's green jumpsuit in the crowd and noted the Hyūga features of Lee's male teammate, though this one seemed more haughty and arrogant than the female. The female of Lee's group wore a pink shirt and possessed hair held up in two buns on top of her head. Like Sasuke's two teammates and Lee, she had no recognizable clan features. Naruto could only assume that the entire team was well-versed in taijutsu, since their instructor was the famed Maito Gai.

The blonde was pulled from his thoughts as the door slammed open, revealing a tall, blocky man with two large scars across his face. Similar to Naruto, he wore a_ hitae-ate_ that fully covered his head, and the blonde was forced to wonder what _he_ was hiding underneath; he scratched at the head covering in irritation of the reminder that he had to remain in disguise.

"Silence maggots!" barked the newcomer, a group of gray-suited ninja filing in behind him. "My name is Morino Ibiki, and I am the proctor for the first exam. If you'll all turn in your applications and take a number, you can find your corresponding seat and we can get started with the written test." Several groans greeted this announcement, but all the Chūnin-hopefuls formed lines and exchanged applications for numbers.

It took awhile, but soon enough Naruto found himself seated on the right side of the room, in a seat with a Konoha-nin to his left and the Hyūga girl to his right. From the corner of his eye, he caught her twiddling her fingers nervously, but chose to ignore her in favor of looking for his teammates. Fū sat four rows in front of him, and three seats to the right; Harō was on the left side of the room, one row in front of him and two seats from the left wall.

Ibiki began speaking again, his tone gruff and no-nonsense. "Listen carefully, maggots. There are several rules to this exam, and I'm not going to repeat them or take any questions. Now, each person begins with 10 points, and each question on the test is worth one point. If you get all the questions right, you keep your 10 points; if you get three questions wrong, your score is seven points.

"Second, you will be scored as a team. This is important because if anyone on the team receives a zero, the entire team will fail. Third, if any of the proctors catch you cheating, you lose two points for each occurrence – meaning that if you're caught five times, you will fail this exam," he enunciated carefully. He allowed a brief silence to fall over the crowd of Genin in order to allow them to digest this information. Then he continued, "The tenth question will be given 45 minutes after the exam has started. You have an hour to complete the exam." Ibiki gazed around the room, eyes hard as diamonds. "Begin!"

There was a rustle as the Genin all flipped over their papers, the scribbling of pencils against parchment sounding from only a couple of ninja. Naruto scrutinized the paper carefully, skimming over the nine questions. He scowled after taking a minute to read through the questions; all of them seemed ridiculously difficult. Shrugging slightly, the undercover Genin focused his attention on the first question, an encryption. Fortunately, Kakuzu had taught him the logic behind decoding ciphers, and he quickly went to work.

-l-l-l-

Fū sat at her desk, thinking. She had answered the sixth question, one regarding economics and the best way to regulate funds for a mission in a strange area (she was sure Kakuzu would have her head for missing _that_ one), when she realized how ridiculous the test was. She had only been able to answer that question because of rigorous training under Kakuzu, and she knew that no one else underwent the same regimen she (and to a greater extent, Naruto) had undergone.

Unlike Naruto, who had no experience of a Hidden Village's Academy program, Fū had some idea of what was taught in school. Questions of this magnitude difficulty had little to no chance of being answered by mere Genin. Cheating violations were also punished much harsher than in the rules the proctor had set forth. The only explanation was that the test required the Genin to cheat in order to get the answers.

She tapped her pencil against her paper repetitively, using the monotony of the sound to concentrate. Naruto was reasonably intelligent and would be able to solve some of the questions…Harō seemed to be smart enough…but there were better methods to pass the test.

There were few occasions where Fū was grateful to be the container to the Seven-Tailed Horned Beetle: this was one of them. The Nanabi's abilities allowed her to manipulate dust on any scale, and the convenient thing about that was that dust particles existed in minute amounts in the air. She twirled the pencil in her hand, collecting a small, barely visible cloud of dust around the tip. Her target was the male Genin at the end of her row, in the aisle seat; his hand had not stopped moving since Ibiki had called for the test to begin.

Fifteen minutes passed, during which Fū stared steadfastly at her paper, trying to see if there was anything else she could solve. Once she had allowed the quarter of an hour to pass, she recalled the dust to her; it settled on her paper in a layer thick enough to read the male Genin's writing. Fū scribbled down the answers and then collected more dust to her, allowing it to settle around the shallow markings her pencil lead had made.

The green-haired girl sent the two dust clouds flying surreptitiously towards Naruto and Harō. Imbued with her chakra, they would settle on her teammates' papers and give them all the answers.

Fū looked up at the clock – 35 minutes had passed since the start of the test. She could only pray that when the tenth question was delivered in 10 minutes, there would be no other game-changing rules alongside it.

-l-l-l-

Naruto looked up at the clock and frowned. Ten minutes before the tenth question, and he had managed to answer two more questions: one about economics (Kakuzu would've _killed_ him for missing that, he thought, echoing Fū's sentiment) and another about the founding history of the Five Great Ninja Villages.

An obscene amount of dust seemed to settle on his paper – frustrated, he blew it away and glared at his test. The dust particles coalesced onto the test again, and he blew them away for a second time. When the dust came back for a third time, Naruto remembered that Fū's Bijū allowed her control over dust. This time, he allowed the dust to form a film on his paper, spelling out the answers to the questions in Fū's neat scrawl.

Naruto finished copying the answers with only a couple of minutes to spare. He breathed a mental sigh of relief, turned over his paper, and linked his fingers together, stretching them out and cracking the knuckles. The blonde took the moment to eye the room. While he had been writing answers, a good chunk of ninja had failed the exam – Naruto counted at least 10 teams absent.

Ibiki stepped forward after another minute, announcing, "Before the tenth question is distributed, there is a stipulation." When he had everyone's attention, he continued, "You have a choice whether or not you want to take the tenth question. If you choose not to take it, you and your teammates will fail, immediately. However, if you take it and get it wrong…you will be permanently banned from participating in the Chūnin Exams ever again."

He was immediately interrupted by the Inuzuka. "What kinda crap is that?" demanded the brunette, getting to his seat and pointing at Ibiki. "There're people here who've taken the Chūnin Exams before!"

The proctor let out a bark of laughter. "I wasn't the proctor for those tests. Now that I'm in charge, the rules have changed. If you choose to take this question and fail, you will remain a Genin forever. If you don't want to take the question, raise your hand and one of the examiners will take down your number. Then you and your teammates are free to leave."

Silence reigned for several seconds before the first trembling hand rose into the air. The Konoha-nin next to Naruto rose slowly. "I quit! I can't take it!" he shouted.

One of the Chūnin examiners scribbled something on his sheet of paper. "Numbers 111 and 130, you fail alongside Number 50."

That one action was like a catalyst. Hands from all over the room shot up, and numbers were methodically called out, alongside the words, "You fail. Please leave the room."

Then, the unthinkable happened. Naruto, bored with the proceedings, yawned.

Ibiki's gaze snapped over to the blonde in the blink of an eye. "Do you find this boring, Ame-nin?" the proctor queried with false patience.

Naruto supposed that, in his own way, Ibiki was a rather scary individual. The only problem was that Naruto had been trained by Kakuzu and, to a lesser extent, Kisame, both of whom were hardcore, S-Class missing-nin who believed in intimidation and pain-filled lessons above all else. Compared to them, Morino Ibiki was like a fledgling bird just learning to fly.

"Honestly, yes," he replied in a bored tone. "I'm sure on some level your threat is meant to be scary, but I'm just not buying it. I apologize for interrupting your fun, but if we could get on with this, I would really appreciate it."

If Ibiki was surprised by Naruto's response, he didn't show it. His stony face scanned the room, trying to intimidate anyone else into leaving, but all the Genin, even some of the weaker ones, stood their ground. _Cocky kid_, he thought. "Congratulations. All of you in this room have passed the first portion of the Chūnin Exams."

"What about the tenth question?" someone asked. Naruto turned around and spied the Uchiha's pink-haired teammate with her hands planted squarely on the bench.

Ibiki smiled, causing the blonde to shudder. _Certain people should not be allowed to _do that! "There was no tenth question. Or, if you prefer, choosing to stay or leave was the tenth question."

Naruto ignored Ibiki's explanation regarding the first nine questions, the importance of information on missions, and how false information could drastically hurt a village. He perked up slightly when Ibiki took off his head covering, revealing burn marks and screw holes, signs of torture from missions past. When Ibiki continued talking, Naruto chose to zone out again.

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki was brought back to wakefulness by the sounding of shattering glass – a large bundle had come through one of the windows and was currently in the process of unrolling. Standing in front of a large banner which read 'Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko is here' was a purple-haired woman in an open tan trenchcoat, wearing mostly fishnet as her clothing. "I am the Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko," she announced needlessly. "Let's go to the next exam! Follow me!"

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Alright, so despite the VERY long wait, I finally managed to get out the longest chapter to date, by a decent amount (over 10,000 words). Obviously there's a reason I don't promise an update schedule, but I quite literally had no free time in between work, school, helping my friend finish the Yearbook, along with two deaths in the family, both extremely difficult. And about the other chapters: I just found some minor mistakes in the writing, so I went back and corrected them. Nothing else changed.

Anyway, I did get this chapter done, and I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. Not much action, but a decent amount of plot setup and character development. Naruto's third teammate has been revealed to be Harō, an OC I created for just this purpose (I got 1 or 2 requests for Haku, but he would be too difficult to incorporate). I'm looking forward to digging into his personality and abilities a bit more as the story progresses.

I also got some comments about Kakuzu's relationship with his students, as well as all of their roles with Akatsuki. I'll say this: don't expect things to be set in stone with Akatsuki. I've got the entire third arc related to their involvement. As for Kakuzu growing more caring towards Naruto...well, even if he did, he'd never really show it in an obvious fashion. So Kakuzu's relationship with his students will remain somewhat quiet for now, but keep in mind that anything can happen. For now, the Chūnin Exams will take up a bit of time; the next two chapters will be Forest of Death and Preliminaries, so hopefully that'll satisfy everyone on how the kids abilities have grown. They should also be relatively long, so I ask for some time to write them. It shouldn't take as long as this update did though, so I'll do my best.

Anyway, please let me know what you think in a review. I'm also still willing to take any other _**Jinton**_ techniques for Fū (see previous chapter's Author's Note). If you leave any questions or comments in a review, I'll try and get back to you with an answer, provided it doesn't spoil any huge plot ideas I have. Thanks for being awesome guys! (I'd love to hit 200 reviews with this, but that's just wishful thinking)


	8. Complications

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

Naruto leaped from one tree branch to the next, Harō and Fū not far behind. The second round of the Chūnin Exams had begun only three hours before, and so far their team had just ventured deeper into the forest, not a word exchanged among the three.

The premise of this phase was rather simple. Mitarashi Anko, the (arguably insane) second proctor of the Chūnin Exams had told the remaining teams that each of them would receive one of two scrolls: Heaven or Earth. Starting from separate gates, the teams would enter Training Ground 44, otherwise known as the Forest of Death. To pass the second round, it was necessary to arrive at the castle in the center of the Forest of Death with both scrolls, meaning that they would have to intercept another team and take their scroll.

It wasn't really a problem, of course. The probability that any team they ran into would have the scroll they needed was fifty-fifty. The plan of attack was simply to find a team, take them out, check their scroll, and hope that it was the opposite of what they had.

Naruto wondered if the exam could really be any simpler. Yes, the whole idea was theoretically a test of teamwork and strength, but Naruto and Fū had both undergone training with Kakuzu, an S-class missing-nin. And Harō had apparently been brought up under the guidance of some great leader whom even Kakuzu seemed to know something of, if not grudgingly respected.

The real issue puzzling Naruto was what they were doing in the Chūnin Exams in the first place. He wasn't complaining; the Exams did present a great opportunity to observe the Hidden Leaf denizens and defenses for his eventual sworn vengeance. But Kakuzu had proven time and again that he was not a man to go back on his word, which meant that the blue-haired woman in the Akatsuki cloak had somehow convinced him to bring the two Jinchūriki to Konoha. By that logic, Kakuzu was taking orders from Akatsuki, though the reason why escaped him. When the blonde had angered Kakuzu on the trek to the Hidden Leaf, the bounty hunter had briefly mentioned a battle he wasn't prepared for.

That was intriguing in of itself. Kakuzu was a very analytical ninja, choosing bounties and chasing them only after either coming up with a solid strategy or realizing that their skills didn't even merit having one. To have agreed to a mission where the former Taki-nin didn't yet have a plan meant that he was either coerced into doing so – something Naruto found hard to believe, considering whom Kakuzu was – or there was some huge sum of money on the line.

Naruto didn't particularly care for being left in the dark. If Kakuzu needed him and Fū (and Harō, he supposed) to remain in the Chūnin Exams, the blonde wanted to know why. Of course, the odds of him getting the answer were relatively slim, but he'd be damned if he didn't at least _try_.

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki was brought from his internal musings as Fū shouted, "Hey!" He turned his head in time to see Harō peel off from the group on a separate trajectory. Naruto scowled, but motioned for Fū to follow him as he twisted on his heel and took off after the Rain-nin.

Harō was a wild card in Naruto's opinion. Even if the blonde didn't know what their exact mission was, he knew that he could rely on Fū simply because of their history and Kakuzu's training. Harō had been trained by a completely different entity, held no formal allegiance to Kakuzu or either of his pupils, and possessed an unknown personality. Sure, he had explained his abilities – _**Raiton**_ affinity, strategist, some taijutsu and, if the swords were any indications, some kenjutsu – but even that didn't tell his two teammates his skill level, or how he'd react in the face of danger (or any one of a dozen other situations Naruto could come up with, given the time).

This situation, for instance.

The two Jinchūriki found Harō crouched on a tree branch overlooking a small camp. The tips of his two katana bit into the bark of the flora and his arms were folded over the hilts, making him appear quite relaxed. Both Jinchūriki landed on the same bough, one on either side of him; Harō didn't even flinch. "What are you doing?" Naruto whispered fiercely.

Harō turned surprisingly serious grey eyes on the blonde. "Look," was all he said. Naruto complied.

Far below them were three Genin, all wearing yellow outfits reminiscent of straightjackets with large 'X' stitches all down the front of their uniforms. Two of them – one with only one eye visible, the other completely blindfolded – were tending to a third, slightly burned teammate, the only member who could see from both eyes. Privately, Naruto wondered how smart an idea it was for only three working eyes out of a total of six, but then he disregarded the anomaly. Naruto couldn't see the symbol on the headbands signifying village affiliation from his position, but the breathing apparatuses all of them wore meant that they were most likely from Amegakure.

Fū apparently noticed too. "Three Genin from Hidden Rain," she observed. "One looks injured. What's the big deal?"

Harō shot her a look of disdain. "They _are_ Ame-nin. _Hanzō's _Ame-nin." Naruto caught Fū's eyes behind Harō's back and shrugged, clearly not understanding the blue-haired boy's point. Harō apparently noticed Fū's confusion and elaborated. "Hanzō is Pein-sama's sworn enemy, the cause of all the strife within Amegakure. Any of his underlings are therefore the enemy of Pein-sama and must be eliminated!"

Naruto stared at the back of the boy's head. "They're only Genin," he pointed out, "hardly a threat to your cause."

"Our forces are small as it is," Harō defended through gritted teeth. "Whether Genin or Jōnin, they are opposing the path to peace within my home country, and thus must be removed before they can do more harm."

"…No."

The Ame-nin stared at Naruto, his face suddenly blank. "Don't tell me that you're opposed to killing," he stated flatly.

Fū snorted. "Hardly," she muttered.

Naruto shook his head. Anko had explained that killing was allowed – expected almost – within the Forest of Death, whether by wildlife or opposing teams. All the participants had been forced to sign waivers acknowledging the fact that they could die while within Training Ground 44, though the capacity for most Genin to commit such a cold-blooded feat was rather small.

Then again, Naruto and his team were hardly 'most Genin'.

The blonde had killed before, several times in fact – not that Harō knew that. He had killed the two ninja to gain the hearts for _**Jiongu**_, plus the Kusa-nin Takeshi as his first bounty hunting test. Even considering the limited experience he had with killing people himself, Kakuzu had made sure that the blonde had become desensitized enough to death to deal with his new profession as a bounty hunter.

And therein was the hitch. Kakuzu had taught Naruto that living a successful life meant having the money to afford the necessities, that money made the world go 'round. To get money – as a missing-nin anyway – one had to kill and collect the bounty on other ninjas' heads. But the killing had a purpose, an intended goal that lead to the improvement of lifestyle. The type of killing that Harō was proposing…it was…

Senseless.

At least, senseless to Naruto, whose instructions were to get through the Chūnin Exams without drawing attention to himself. There was no connection between taking out the team of Hidden Rain Genin below them and staying under Konoha's radar. Naruto had learned that while a person's cost of living was intertwined with others' lives, his was dependent upon the blood he shed by cutting down those others. It was rather twisted logic, but it made sense to the blonde, who had long ago accepted that he had to play with the cards dealt to him.

The divergence from Kakuzu's teachings was somewhat stark – for the bounty hunter frequently killed either for the thrill or as a therapeutic tool – but Naruto was glad for the difference. Kami forbid he ever turn into a carbon copy of the former Taki-nin…which brought him back to the issue at hand.

Harō wasn't going to let the matter of the Ame team below pass easily. Naruto was uncomfortable with the prospect of killing them for no reason other than because they were Harō's enemy. On the other hand, they did need a scroll with which to pass the second stage of the Exams…

"We need a scroll…but no killing!" he warned Harō. "You said you had orders to obey Ka– Izo-sensei," he corrected hastily. "Well right now I'm in charge, so you have to listen to me. We're not going out of our way to make trouble."

Harō scowled, but reluctantly nodded his acceptance. Naruto shared a nod with Fū before both of them leapt in opposite directions.

The blue-haired boy stood, pulling the twin swords from the tree branch. The weapons weren't his, but out of all of Pein-sama's followers, it was he who had the capacity to use them best. Apparently, one of the higher members – a Hoshigaki Kisame – had tracked down some former member of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen and killed him, collecting the money on his head and adding the legendary Thunder Fangs to the rebels' collection of supplies. Being one of the few Lightning users within Pein-sama's ranks, Harō had instantly been drawn to the swords and had devoted much of his free time learning to use them efficiently.

Harō had two unfortunate problems. The first was that he had limited to no formal kenjutsu training, so he could only use the swords effectively as a means of channeling and utilizing lightning, both chakra-natured and real (though he hadn't tried the latter yet). Kisame had taken the time to inform him of several of the Lightning techniques the swords' previous owner had used; he had also handed him a scroll detailing all of said techniques (that he had apparently pilfered from the owner's hideout), but that was as far as his swordsmanship training with the Thunder Fangs went.

The bigger issue was that Harō had smaller than average chakra reserves, which, combined with the fact that _**Raiton**_ was more chakra-intensive than the other elements, meant that he tended to lose stamina quicker than he should have. It was a problem he continued to try to rectify by expanding his reserves, but even still, he knew they could be larger.

Still…Harō was willing to make exceptions in certain, extenuating circumstances. Vengeance for the pain Hanzō had caused him seemed like a good reason to expend a bit of energy.

Enough time had passed for Fū and Naruto to get into position. _Time to get started then_, he decided. Lightning crackled around the hilts of the blades, and when Harō felt like he had accumulated enough chakra, he threw the blades into the ground on the edge of the campsite. Electricity sparked across the ground in random arrays, heading towards all three Genin as Harō shouted, "_**Raisō: Ikazuchi no Utage**_; Lightning Burial: Banquet of Lightning!"

The two ninja who were uninjured jumped away from the attack, while the one who was lying on the ground was forced to take the ninjutsu, his body dancing as it surged with voltage. Per Naruto's instruction, Harō had (grudgingly) toned down the power so that the technique only knocked out the target instead of killing him.

There was a _clang_ of metal on metal as Naruto burst forth from his hiding spot and attacked the blindfolded Genin with his sword, hitting a hastily drawn kunai. Apparently not having your eyes visible didn't mean you couldn't see, but it proved to be a moot point. Either the Rain Genin had no skill with close combat, or the element of surprise was much more effective than Harō estimated, for Naruto took him out with a swift taijutsu-swordplay combo.

Both boys looked for their third opponent, finding him incased in a bubble of dust held up by Fū. Naruto tried not to let his jaw drop in astonishment at how quickly Fū had managed to alter the technique Kakuzu had trapped her in a week ago to be used with her own element. "Impressed?" she asked with a smirk, setting her free hand on her hip. "_**Jinrō no Jutsu**_; Dust Prison Technique…not bad, huh?"

Then the Dust Prison broke, letting the Rain Genin drop to the floor. The Nanabi Jinchūriki scratched the back of her head, embarrassed. It was a gesture Naruto recognized as being strangely reminiscent of himself. "Heheh…uh, whoops. Guess I don't have the technique perfected yet."

The one-eyed boy tried to scramble away, but Harō was too fast, zipping forward and placing the tips of the dual katana at his throat. "Your scroll," Harō demanded, voice brooking no argument. The Ame Loyalist pointed one trembling finger towards his unconscious, blindfolded teammate.

Naruto walked over to the boy's prone form and rooted around until he found the scroll. "Damn," he cursed, looking at the word on the front. "Earth Scroll," he told his teammates, his expression sour.

Fū sighed. "So this was a waste of time. What now?"

"We take it," Harō said. "The less teams that pass, the better the odds are for us to move forward." He channeled chakra into the swords, sending electricity pulsing into the one-eyed boy, who promptly collapsed to the dirt, motionless. "He's alive," Harō stated coldly, feeling Naruto's glare at his back.

"…Fine," the blonde relented. "Let's go."

-l-l-l-

"_**Sabaku Kyū**_; Sand Coffin."

Sand slithered up Shigure's leg, quickly encasing the older Rain Genin. In short order, only Shigure's face was visible, and his entire body was lifted twenty feet into the air.

Sometimes, on the rare occasions between his constant insomnia and near-constant insanity, Gaara understood that the voice he heard in his head calling for blood was not his mother. His mother had died giving birth to him, cursing the village that had produced a Kazekage willing to seal a vicious demon into his unborn son, sacrificing his wife for the process. In those few moments of clarity, Gaara knew that the words whispered to him were from Shukaku, the Demon Sand Spirit. Having never known love though, Gaara had deluded himself into believing that Shukaku was really 'Mother'.

Gaara's life had been miserable since birth. He had been the object of numerous assassination attempts, neglected by his father, his siblings – his _village_ – because of the Bijū sealed within him. The abilities afforded by Shukaku – total control over sand, an automatic defense, an armor of sand – had gone unseen since the days of the Sandaime Kazekage, who had created his famed Iron Sand technique based off of the previous Ichibi Jinchūriki's powers.

The trade-off between his powers and the consequences of hosting Ichibi no Shukaku was something that always bothered Gaara. Yes, he escaped from every mission unscathed and he possessed sand manipulation powers rivaled by none, but if he slept, the demon consumed his personality. Not to mention the insatiable bloodlust.

After living with the demon for so long, Gaara had long since become desensitized to the blood he was told to shed. Killing had become a way to verify his existence, to prove that he was still alive. It was an insane stretch of logical justification, but all Gaara wanted to do was please Mother. Mother wanted blood.

"_**Sabaku Sōsō**_; Desert Funeral!"

And it rained blood.

As his sand absorbed the red fluid, Gaara turned his emotionless gaze to his victim's two teammates. While the tall Ame-nin had been an excellent sacrifice, he was not the red-head's true target.

"Here, take the scroll!" offered the one on the right, placing said object on the ground.

"Yes, please spare us!" pleaded the other one.

Gaara stared at them, watched as their bodies trembled in fear at his show of power. These Hidden Rain ninja…they were _weak_. They offered no challenge to the Suna-nin, merely fodder for Mother's never-ending appetite. But there was someone whom the Jinchūriki was interested in, someone who hailed from the drenched plains of Ame and who could perhaps slake Mother's thirst for blood.

The girl with the pale green hair…something was different about her. Gaara wanted to hear her scream as his sand engulfed her, crushed her bones and drank her life. She was a challenge, one he couldn't identify. But the demon inside him wailed for her capture, cried out for the red-head to smother and kill her with nary a thought. Her death would make Mother happy…Gaara wanted to please Mother. And if the blonde boy got in his way…well, the Suna-nin was sure that Mother would have no problem with an appetizer.

"I'm looking for someone. Female, light green hair, walking around with a blonde. She's also from Amegakure. Tell me what you know about her and where she is," Gaara intoned.

The two remaining Rain Genin exchanged nervous looks before the one on the right spoke up. "W-we've never h-heard of her b-before."

A hand made of sand reached up from the ground and grasped each ninja's leg. The sand quickly encased their bodies as Gaara stretched his arms out, hands in a grabbing position.

"Wrong answer._** Sabaku Sōsō.**_"

As Kankurō walked forward and grabbed the scroll on the ground, Gaara turned and began to walk away. He cared little for his father's wishes regarding his part in Konoha's invasion, or for passing the Chūnin Exams. He wanted that girl's blood.

And he would have it. "Let's go," he ordered his siblings. Temari and Kankurō exchanged a confused glance before following their younger brother out of the clearing. When Gaara was on a rampage, it was always best to stay away, lest you become an unwilling victim.

Hidden in the bushes, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, and Hyūga Hinata shook in terror at the spectacle they had witnessed. As they silently recovered from what had just happened, the same thought passed through each of their minds.

_Kami help whoever he's looking for._

-l-l-l-

Fū jumped beside Harō as the two followed Naruto through the Forest of Death. The trio had traveled in silence since their run-in with the Rain ninja, though the quiet was rather tense in comparison to before the encounter.

The Jinchūriki twirled a senbon idly between her fingers, a habit she had adopted quite accidentally. She preferred using the thin, needle-like weapons to kunai or shuriken because they were far more multifunctional and able to hold chakra better. The latter especially was a talent Fū was glad for.

Aside from _**Jinton**_, there was one other ability that Nanabi no Kabutomushi granted Fū. If she applied chakra to an object which then pierced the opponent's body – or managed to get close enough to physically put her chakra into someone (though that was always far less likely) – the Bijū's chakra would then paralyze her foe by interfering with his or her chakra system. With weaker opponents and a high enough dose of chakra, Fū theorized that she could kill an enemy, though she had only practiced the application of such a technique on small animals. Senbon were renowned for their ability to transmit chakra much easier than kunai – they were often used for medicinal purposes because of that absorptive property – and thus could retain the Seven-Tails' chakra better than the knives could, allowing for long-distance paralysis. During the trek through the forest, Kakuzu had found the time to teach her the basics of a Hidden Rain technique using the umbrellas she had grabbed from the Akatsuki hideout.

She had spent nearly twenty minutes gathering all the loosed senbon from her first practice with the technique, and had sworn off trying the technique again until she needed it.

Fū shook her head; she was getting off-track. Something needed to be done about the animosity brewing between the two males. "Harō, are you okay?" The minute the words left her mouth, Fū knew that it was a stupid thing to ask.

The cobalt-haired boy shot her a nasty look. "No. I'm very displeased with _Shinobu's–_" he seemed to speak Naruto's fake name like a curse, "—decision regarding those Ame-nin. We should have killed them." Fū noticed that despite the anger in his voice, Harō's tone was flat and even throughout his reasoning.

"There was no point!" argued Naruto. "I'm not going to let you kill some random ninja just to satisfy some personal grudge!"

"We're in a war!" returned Harō, raising his voice.

"_You're_ in a war!" Naruto was quick to correct, coming to a halt on a thick branch. "And perhaps after this job is done you can get back to striking down some helpless Genin all for the cause of your precious 'Pein-sama'. But right now, your mission is to participate in the Chūnin Exams and help us pass, and _that is what you will do,_" he finished, punctuating each word carefully.

Fū thought she could almost see the steam coming out of Harō's ears. All people had their boiling point: she had learned quickly that Kakuzu's was rather low, but that Naruto had a high tolerance with his temper. If she was interpreting Harō's body language correctly, the green-haired girl was about to see his.

Harō sprang forward, the Thunder Fangs extended towards Naruto's neck. The blonde whirled, bringing up his tantō and catching the top curves of each blade, both fists gripping the hilt of his sword. Harō's stormy grey eyes were narrowed in silent fury, and despite his lack of sword skill, he seemed to be pressing the blonde back with sheer determination and rage.

"Oh, for the love of – will you two cut it out?" Fū cried, exasperated.

The girl went ignored as the two broke apart, each staring down the other. Harō held the swords up, bringing the tips close together and gathering chakra in between their gap. A blue-white ball of lightning – about the size of a fist – formed at the tips as Harō glared at Naruto. The blonde's tantō took on a blue sheen as he channeled his own chakra into it. Fū groaned; even though she didn't know Harō's skill with Lightning Release, _**Fūton **_trumped _**Raiton**_ almost every time. The boys charged –

"Oi, Fū!"

All three members of Kakuzu's team blinked, turning in surprise to see who had interfered with their spat.

A team of ninja were headed towards them, closing in rapidly. Fū felt her stomach clench uncomfortably, the fear that she would be recognized having come to pass. Soon enough, standing on a large tree branch less than 100 feet away were three Genin from Takigakure, the only team from that village which had managed to pass the written test. Ironically, and to Fū's immense displeasure, the two male members of the team were the bullies from the day she had met Naruto.

_Oh goodie._

Their leader – Hōki, if Fū remembered his name correctly – opened his mouth to say something, but a ball of lightning and a wave of air forced him and his teammates to jump to the forest floor. Fū glanced back to see that both Naruto and Harō had loosed their attacks at this new presence.

Apparently it was not enough to deter Hōki. "Fū, you bitch!" he shouted. "How dare you betray our village!"

The Nanabi Jinchūriki merely rolled her eyes. _Yeah, cause clearly there was a lot of love for me back in Taki. Did no one wonder why I left…did anyone even _search_ for me?_

Hōki continued to rant, "You were Takigakure's ultimate weapon, our chance to become great! You think that you can just leave and get away with it? Well, we're going to show you right here and now what happens when you go against the might of the Hidden Waterfall Village!"

Fū looked over her shoulder at Naruto, shooting the blonde a look that clearly said, 'Now what?'

Naruto caught the gesture from the corner of his eye, his attention focused more intently on the three Genin going through the same series of hand seals. His blue orbs flickered over to Harō, noticing that the boy hadn't moved but was paying attention to what was going on with a fierce intensity. "They know Fū's identity, which makes them a threat to our mission."

The green-haired girl cracked her knuckles, understanding his subtle message. She grinned. "Cool." Fū prepared to jump down and engage Hōki and his teammates.

"_**Katon Renkeijutsu: Karura**_; Fire Release Cooperation Technique: Garuda!"

"No," ordered Naruto, quickly forming seals. The fiery dragon was bearing down on Fū's position, and Naruto supposed it would have been a more impressive technique had it been performed by higher level ninja. As it was…"_**Suiton: Mizu Rappa**_; Water Release: Violent Water Wave," he finished, expelling a powerful jet of liquid from his mouth. Kisame had taught him the technique as his first training exercise, stating that learning it was a requirement for all Hidden Mist ninja. While somewhat weak in theory, the secret of the technique was that its power varied with how much chakra was pushed into it.

To combat the large dragon, Naruto was pouring in a decent amount of chakra.

Steam blanketed the area as the Taki-nin stopped their assault. Naruto stopped his defense, his breathing slightly labored. He could only assume that their opponents had cut-off their attack to conserve chakra. Hands on knees, he glanced at Harō. "Would you like the pleasure?"

Harō smirked. "Gladly." And then he was gone.

Naruto fought to control his breathing. He knew that he had an enormous chakra capacity, so using the Violent Water Wave wouldn't have been a problem normally. The only difference between most of his training and this situation was that he had never expelled such a large, continuous stream of chakra at one time. Thankfully, his high stamina and huge reserves meant that it only took a matter of seconds to recover from the technique. Sufficiently refreshed, he straightened his stance.

The two Jinchūriki gazed into the thick mass of vaporized water, trying to see anything. Several of the training sessions Kisame had put Naruto through included the use of _**Kirigakure no Jutsu**_ – the Art of Hiding in the Mist – and so the blonde's sight had improved slightly in the impaired conditions. Still, for as far away as he was, and so Fū could see clearly as well, he slowly performed the hand signs for _**Fūton:**_ _**Reppūshō**_ and blasted the steam away.

Fū watched the scene below play out with interest. Harō had sheathed the twin katana and was all but dancing around the Taki-nin, engaged in a strange taijutsu battle. She cocked her head as her teammate ducked under a roundhouse kick and jabbed his thumb into the back of the boy's knee. He yelped in pain and jumped back awkwardly, prompting Fū to raise an eyebrow.

The girl's own taijutsu training had been specifically modeled after Kakuzu's combat style. The bounty hunter used a modified version of _**Gōken**_, more specifically _**Rakanken**_, but it was somewhat limited in execution simply because Kakuzu, a chakra powerhouse and more of a ninjutsu-user than anything else, had developed the style to counter and reverse his opponent's assaults. His pure strength allowed for blocking and retaliating in a swift combination such that his opponent's moves were turned against him. Fū had been taken on several bounty hunting missions while under his tutelage for a year, and had seen firsthand how effective the man's style was: a caught punch followed by a vicious backhand and then a roundhouse kick powerful enough to shatter ribs. She had adapted relatively well to the style, but still used much of her own, straightforward taijutsu.

Naruto, despite having been trained by Kakuzu for much longer than herself, had actually been taught completely differently. From what Fū knew, the blonde had been forced to build his skills from the standard Academy taijutsu before Kakuzu had confiscated a scroll from Kusagakure for Naruto to learn from. The style – _**Shindō Yōshin-ryū **_– taught and utilized graceful, flexible movements which often included swordplay. Fū wasn't entirely sure how Naruto had found the patience to learn a taijutsu branch which emphasized flexibility and waiting for the opponent, considering his personality, but apparently he had done it. She had so far never seen him use it, most likely because he preferred to use varied ninjutsu (like his teacher) and kenjutsu.

On the other hand, Harō appeared to be using a style similar to the Hyūga's _**Jūken**_…though that should be impossible, considering that Harō didn't have the Byakugan to see the body's chakra network. "Interesting," commented Naruto, jumping to join Fū on her tree, "he knows _**kyūsho-jutsu**_."

_Ah_, Fū realized. _That explains a lot._ _**Kyūsho-jutsu**_ was a rarer branch of taijutsu that focused on striking the opponent's pressure points in order to disable or stall them. It was a difficult style to learn because it required knowledge of the human body, precision, and speed to use effectively. It also was not very common because it was difficult to pull off debilitating hits which had permanent or lasting effects. The pink-eyed girl wasn't entirely sure where Harō's speed was coming from, but he was definitely appeared quite skilled with striking pressure points and evading other attacks.

She glanced at Naruto from her periphery; the blonde was standing silently next to her, arms crossed and expression blank. He looked rather uninterested in his surroundings, as if one of his teammates was not, in fact, fighting against the odds for his life. Fū turned back to the battle. She could only hope Harō escaped unscathed.

-l-l-l-

Harō dodged the majority of a small fire ninjutsu, taking a minor burn to his right leg. _**Kyūsho-jutsu**_ had its uses in combat, more so when fighting one-on-one. Back under Pein-sama's command, Harō had either been sent out on long-distance stealth/sniping missions or as part of splinter cells where incapacitating his opponents left room for his teammates to finish them off. However, with no back-up forthcoming (he could only assume Naruto and Fū would stay away from the action unless he asked) and a depleting chakra supply, Harō was discovering the drawbacks of relying on it as a taijutsu style when outnumbered and alone.

To dodge his opponents, Harō had been converting chakra to lightning, using the element in an original technique which drastically accelerated how fast he moved. The problem was that by using the move, the cobalt-haired boy how rather quickly used up the majority of his chakra; the only good news was that by sticking to taijutsu, he had conserved the remainder of it by not using any _**Raiton**_ techniques. Most of the pressure points he had struck were restraint points, those designed to temporarily immobilize an opponent or cause them brief spasms of pain. But with his dwindling reserves, he needed to finish the battle…_now._

The three Waterfall ninja had regrouped in a loose triangle, preparing for another collaboration attack. Harō dipped into his reserves and pulled out enough chakra to jet forward, ending up in the center of the trio. In front of him stood the lone kunoichi, and he caught a look of shock on her features before driving up with the heel of his palm, striking the point in the underside of her jaw. She dropped like a sack of bricks.

Instincts suddenly screamed for Harō to duck, and he fell to his side as Hōki's fist transited through the space he had just vacated. Hōki stumbled slightly with his momentum, falling to the ground as the Harō swept his legs out from under him. The Ame-nin rolled to his feet, diving forward – and evading a hasty punch from the second Taki-nin – to strike Hōki's teammate in the sternal notch, activating his gag reflex. The Waterfall Genin dropped back, hacking involuntarily; Harō took the opportunity to unsheathe one of his swords and drive it through the boy's heart.

It was a messy result. With no formal sword-training, Harō had aimed for the most vital and easily accessible organ in a rather simplistic stab. The hit probably would have been clean except that the Thunder Fangs, unlike most other swords, were not ideal for physical contact – their use lying primarily in _**Raiton **_ninjutsu – and the topmost curve was now keeping the katana embedded within the Taki-nin's corpse.

A low growl sounded from behind him. "You'll pay for that!" shouted Hōki. Harō was forced to abandon the blade as his opponent tackled him from behind. Caught unaware by the move and at the end of his stamina, the cobalt-haired boy could do nothing as the older male sat on him and rained blow after blow on his face and body. He squirmed as best he could to evade the punches, but he realized that he was at a complete disadvantage.

Then two hands grabbed Hōki's head and twisted. There was a _crack_ as his neck was snapped.

"Well, that wasn't nearly as satisfying as I hoped it would be," Fū stated dispassionately, staring at the immobile body of Hōki. The boy wasn't dead yet – snapping the neck at a high enough vertebrae prevented the diaphragm from working, so the inability to breathe killed the person in short order – but Fū seemed to be watching her enemy with vindictive pink eyes. "I'll never go back to Taki," she practically spat. The Nanabi Jinchūriki appeared as if she had more to say, but Hōki's body chose that moment to stop breathing. Harō sighed in relief and took Fū's proffered hand.

Naruto jumped down from his perch as Fū placed Harō's arm over her shoulders. The blonde walked over to the Waterfall kunoichi Harō had downed first, leaning down to reach her wrist and check her pulse. His lips were pursed as he withdrew his tantō from its sheath. He centered the blade over her heart and plunged it through her chest, removing it straight afterwards. "Find their scroll," he said, moving to the corpse of her teammate.

"Oh, right," Fū acknowledged. She all but dropped Harō to rummage through Hōki's clothes, while Naruto maneuvered the lone Thunder Fang from the other male Taki-nin's body. Wordlessly, he offered the blade to the now grounded Harō, who took it without a sound. "Found it!" cheered Fū, "and it's a Heaven Scroll too, just what we need." She seemed to realize that she was interrupting something for she suddenly fell quiet.

"…You killed her," Harō observed, merely stating fact but failing to cover a tinge of surprise.

"Yes," agreed Naruto. His blue eyes were cold and hard, the eyes of a ninja who knew what needed to be done. The blonde oozed not a drop of pity or sympathy or remorse as Harō tried to analyze him. "It was necessary."

The Ame-nin peered at his teammate for stretch of time, while Fū's eyes darted between the two. It was as if Naruto was a puzzle than Harō was trying to solve, but he couldn't find which piece went where. Finally though, Harō nodded at Naruto, accepting the blonde's decision. "Very good. Now, if you'll excuse me…" And he promptly passed out.

Naruto felt his vitals. "Chakra exhaustion," he diagnosed. "I guess we're setting up camp here for the night. Tomorrow we can head out."

Fū smiled. _So I guess those two can_ _get along after all._

-l-l-l-

It was only the second day within the Forest of Death, and Sai honestly had no idea what was going on anymore.

With an odd number of graduates from the Ninja Academy, Danzō-sama – the leader of the supposedly defunct ROOT organization – had pressured the Sandaime into allowing one of his subordinates to fill in the missing spot of the Genin teams. Though the Third Hokage had initially been opposed to the idea, the support of his two former teammates – Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, two of the more prominent Village Council members – had essentially made his opinion null on the matter.

So Sai had been assigned his current codename, been told his two teammates were Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, and that they would be under the guidance of Hatake Kakashi. Two of the three names had rung familiar chimes within the boy's head at the time, and the third was of no importance. Danzō-sama had informed him that his mission was to watch over Sasuke and make reports on his skills and progress. He wasn't sure what his leader's interest in the last Uchiha was, but it wasn't his place to question his instructions.

Unfortunately, the parameters of the mission required Sai to interact with people…which meant exposure to emotions, something Sai hadn't experienced in many years. Part of ROOT's program involved the elimination of emotions in order to more effectively carry out the missions necessary to Konoha's survival. So while Sai had a clear goal of what needed to be done, his personality (or lack thereof) often clashed with those of his teammates, which made carrying out his mission slightly difficult at times.

All things considered, he wasn't doing too terrible. Research and spying had revealed the purpose of Kakashi's initial test, which had allowed for Team 7 to become a true Genin team. The D-rank missions were an insult to someone of his skill (after all, ROOT was simply a secret subdivision of the ANBU Black Ops), but Sai bore all of it with a (fake) smile, because he understood the importance of following orders and obeying his superior. The truly difficult part was disguising his skills as those of a common Genin.

Sparring practice and group training were the main issues. D-rank missions didn't require a high level of training (or any training at all, it could be argued), so performing those tasks while not revealing his skills had been easy. But every time Sai was forced to spar against Sasuke, or whenever Kakashi had them perform some random team exercise, the ROOT operative was often forced to tone down years of trained instincts to react as only an average Genin would. It was rather frustrating, to say the least.

But he had passed those obstacles nonetheless. When the announcement that Team 7 would be entered in the Chūnin Exams had been made, Danzō-sama had given Sai new orders. The Exams presented the perfect opportunity to fully observe the results of Uchiha's rigorous training against his fellow ninja. Sai had been instructed to assist the boy in getting through the first two stages of the Chūnin Exams; the third stage would apparently be single matches in which Sai could have no influence on Sasuke's performance.

The written test had been easy enough. Sai's specialty lay in drawing and painting creatures which served a multitude of purposes: reconnaissance, message relays, and battle primarily. Sneaking out his specialized ink brush disguised as a pencil and using it to create animated flies which could spy for him had been simple. The theory was similar to several strains of _kikaichū_ bred by the Aburame Clan specifically for reconnaissance purposes, if a tad less precise.

It was the second exam which had so far completely thrown the ROOT operative for a loop. Several hours before, he had been separated from his two teammates by a powerful burst of wind: a _**Fūton **_ninjutsu, he surmised. He had come face-to-face with a tremendous snake, but with no one around, he hadn't feared being caught going all-out. Still, Sai was used to dealing with human-sized opponents, and so defeating the snake had taken a fair amount of cunning and chakra.

Perhaps the biggest surprise had come when the giant serpent had disappeared in a burst of smoke, much in the same way a summons would. The only people Sai knew of who could use snake summons were Mitarashi Anko – a likely possibility, considering the fact that she was proctoring the second exam – and Orochimaru, infamous traitor of the Hidden Leaf. Despite the likelihood of the snake belonging to Anko, the small possibility that it was Orochimaru's spurred Sai into action. Though his ink birds were fast, the dense foliage of the Forest of Death would hinder their flight and so Sai took to jumping back to where he had been separated from his teammates.

He had found them both in the same clearing he had left them. Sakura was leaning against a tree, unconscious but otherwise okay. On the other hand, Sasuke was out cold on the ground, a stab wound on his leg and two puncture marks on the side of his neck, beside which were three comma-shaped markings, plus a fever and some other scrapes and bruises. Sai was no expert with seals – having only the one on his tongue which prevented him from speaking of Danzō-sama – but seeing as how Sasuke had never had such a mark before, the dark-haired boy could only assume it was a recent, and therefore potentially dangerous, addition.

He had summoned two ink lions from the scroll he used for all of his ninjutsu, and the bodies of his teammates were placed upon their backs. Sai had found a hollowed out tree base where he was able to deposit the bodies, then use some extra cloth and water from his canteen to soothe the Uchiha's fever. Being a nursemaid to another ninja was slightly humiliating, but Sasuke was needed alive by Danzō-sama, so Sai had buckled down and did what was necessary. Shortly thereafter, Sakura had regained consciousness and quickly took over caring for the raven-haired boy, much to Sai's relief.

Of course, not long after that the lone team of ninja from Otogakure had arrived, forcing a weak Sakura and a tired Sai into battle in an attempt to get to Sasuke. Before too much damage was done, Rock Lee had appeared to defend Sakura, taking on the leader of the Sound ninja and ultimately failing. Shortly thereafter, Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, and Akimichi Chōji had revealed their presence and attempted to fight the Oto team; Sai would admit they did an okay job, at least as novices. After their failure, Lee's teammates Hyūga Neji and Tenten had arrived, searching for the spandex-wearing Genin.

Before they could even interfere, Uchiha Sasuke had awakened, flame-like markings spreading from the (assumed) seal on his neck and covering the left side of his body. He had stood and easily incapacitated one of the Oto-nin, and more likely than not would have killed him if Sakura had not prevented him from doing so.

Sai was inwardly grateful to not have to fight, for it solidified the image of a mediocre ninja with no special skills. Despite that, he was unable to fully comprehend the reasons for the other Konoha Genin to intrude into Team 7's fight. He understood the _why_: emotions, messy fickle feelings – pride, rage, affection – controlled their actions, but beyond that there was no explanation for entering a fight which did not concern them. It made Sai glad that he no longer had the capacity to feel emotions; they seemed to cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

As the leader of the Sound team placed down his scroll and retreated with his two teammates, Sai vaguely registered the Ino-Shika-Cho trio coming out from the bushes and heading over to Lee's immobile form. With everything that had passed in the forest, Sai had a _long_ report to make to Danzō-sama…once he found the time to discreetly do so.

High in the tree upon which he and Tenten had landed, Hyūga Neji shifted his Byakugan eyes slightly, looking to the bushes on the other side of the clearing. Three people became clear to his vision, and he was able to make out the signs on their forehead protectors. _Hidden Rain_, he thought. He wondered if they'd attack, but when one of them signaled the other two to follow the path of the departed Sound team, Neji let them go. If they would rather waste their time with a scroll-less team than take on three separate groups of Leaf Genin, who was he to get in their way?

-l-l-l-

_Leaf ninja are _loud, thought Naruto, leading Harō and Fū quietly through the undergrowth.

Their team had spent the previous evening camped out at the sight of their battle with the Takigakure team (after removing the corpses from the vicinity, of course). Harō had woken up after a couple of hours to drink some water and eat a small amount of food before falling back to sleep. The next morning found the cobalt-haired boy at half-strength, but capable of moving.

So they had, if at a more sedate pace than the first day. But with four days left of the test, and their only goal being to reach the tower in the center, none of the three were worried about time. It was only when Naruto had broken off from their straight path around noon that his two team members had become confused. "I hear something," he had offered quietly by way of explanation.

The scene they had come across had been rather hectic. Leaf Genin had all but crawled out of the metaphorical woodwork, combating the threat the strangely garbed, opposing ninja team had presented. "Can we _go_?" Harō had scowled.

"Not yet," Naruto had replied. He turned to the other male. "What do you know about that team?" he continued, motioning towards the trio all the Leaf ninja were fighting.

Both Harō and Fū had glanced from the blonde to the other ninja and then back again. Fū shrugged as Harō succinctly stated, "Nothing."

The blonde had nodded. "Exactly. If there's one thing Izo-sensei taught me, it was that the more information you have, the better. Right now, I have no information on those guys, and my gut is telling me not to trust them." His attention returned to the scene they had been spying on, curses flying from his mouth when he realized they were gone. "C'mon," he motioned, before slipping away.

Which led Naruto, Harō, and Fū to their current scenario of moving along the ground, following the unknown team. "Where did they go…?" muttered Naruto. "Kazu, check the area, will ya?"

"…You're not a very good tracker, are you?" Harō commented dryly.

"Not particularly," admitted the Jinchūriki. "But once I find someone, they're in trouble. …Y'know, you're being oddly cooperative, all things considered."

Harō leveled him with an even stare. "I told you, I'm a strategist. You gave me a compelling reason to follow them, and you proved to me that you know what you're doing with those Waterfall ninja." He took a deep breath. "You're right…my own desire to kill that Ame team was not in line with this mission, which should be my focus. I've decided that if we're to get through this, I'm better off working with you than against you, which means accepting your decisions. From now on, I'm dedicated to whatever you say our objective is, as long as it makes sense."

Naruto seemed to take this admission in stride, but after a brief moment he nodded. There was silence as Naruto wondered if he should say something, but Fū preempted him with a hesitant, "Uh, guys?"

"_**Zankūha**_; Decapitating Airwaves!"

Naruto kicked Harō into Fū and dove away just before a powerful blast of air swept through the place they had just vacated. The blonde wiped his brow with the back of his hand and let out a silent breath of relief. _That was a bit too close._

"Come out!" shouted a voice, "We know you're there!" All three exchanged glances before stepping out from the foliage to face their opponents.

Naruto recognized the majority of their outfits from the Akatsuki hideout. Each wore grey pants with black splotches in a camouflage pattern, as well as a long scarf of the same design wrapped around their throats. One of them – Naruto guessed he was the leader, though he couldn't say why – had bandages wrapped around his entire face, save the left eye. The sleeves of his grey shirt (slightly darker than the pants) were abnormally long, and a large furry object – a cape was the best Naruto could describe it as – covered his back. The other male possessed dark, spiky hair with two face plates starting from under his forehead protector and following his jaw line; one of his arms looked to be either dislocated or broken. He wore a short-sleeved yellow shirt and tight black cloth over his forearms; two black stripes were imprinted on the shirt from his collarbone to under his armpits, and a third went around his waist, separating one of the three kanji for 'death' on his shirt from the other two. His female teammate wore the same forearm bands as well as a sleeveless vest, and a second scarf was wrapped around her waist much like a belt; her long dark hair fell almost to the ground. Wrapped around each of their foreheads was a _hitae-ate_, the same, unknown symbol of a musical note engraved in the metal.

"Who are you?" asked the partial-mummy.

"I could ask you the same thing," retorted Naruto. "What village are you from?"

The spiky-haired boy laughed. "You've never heard of Otogakure, the Village Hidden in Sound? You Rain ninja are all pathetic!"

"Zaku, shut up," hissed the first male.

"Oh come on, Dosu, you can't tell me you think these little babies present a challenge."

"Otogakure?" queried Fū. "Where's that? And why haven't we heard of it?"

"Oto is a new village set up within Rice Field Country, led by Orochimaru-sama!" bragged Zaku. Naruto and Harō shared a look which clearly said, 'He's a talker'. "This is our first appearance in the Chūnin Exams, and we're here to show just how powerful we are, and to fulfill Orochimaru-sama's desires! We'll have to go back and find a way to kill Uchiha Sasuke," he directed to Dosu.

"Zaku," warned his teammate, "stop talking. And with the Curse Seal in play, I'm not sure if killing the Uchiha is a good idea, let alone a possibility."

The mention of Orochimaru placed Naruto on edge. He knew nothing of the man personally, only that his reputation preceded him; if the renegade Sannin was influencing the Chūnin Exams in some way, Naruto and his team would have to be extra careful. It _did _offer an explanation for why Kakuzu had come to Konoha in the first place, though. Orochimaru had a _huge_ price on his head (Naruto was unsure of the exact value) which meant that he was extraordinarily skilled, a fact which accounted for Kakuzu's uncertainty in winning an unplanned battle against him.

There was a moment of silence as Naruto turned over the information he had just heard, the team from Hidden Sound subtly preparing to attack. Everyone seemed to realize the time for talk was over, for Naruto and Dosu ordered at the same time, "Kill them."

"_**Zankūha!**_" shouted Zaku. The three fake Genin scattered to escape the blast. "Kin, now!"

The female – Kin, apparently – threw a flurry of senbon at Naruto, but the blonde easily dodged them. Chiming sounded out from behind him, and Naruto turned to see several of the senbon stuck in a large tree, tiny bells attack to them.

Then the double vision began. Naruto tried to stop the world from spinning, but he guessed that he was trapped in some sort of illusion. "Uhnnn…I think I'm gonna hurl…"

Because Kakuzu _never_ used genjutsu in actual combat, he had merely taught Naruto the basics of dispelling the illusionary techniques. During the course of being taught how to escape genjutsu, Kakuzu had inflicted several types of illusions he had learned from his early years upon the blonde. The lesson Naruto had learned was that he was rather susceptible to that branch of the ninja arts, and that he could really only break a couple of the weaker ones with the traditional genjutsu-release theory. Auditory and olfactory targeted illusions especially threw him for a loop, he assumed due to Kyūbi's enhancement of those senses.

Fū watched as Naruto fell to his knees and clapped his hands over his ears. She moved to try and help him, but another flurry of senbon peppered the area between her and him. The spiky-haired Sound-nin – Zaku, she remembered – was keeping Harō preoccupied; the fight was surprisingly even, Zaku's loss of an arm counteracted by Harō's incomplete recovery from the previous day. Kin was preventing her from interfering with Naruto, allowing Dosu to zip forward and slam a strange device attached to his arm into Naruto's stomach with a brutal uppercut.

Naruto coughed up a mixture of blood and bile, the red fluid also trickling out of his ears and soaking his head covering. Disoriented, his vision swimming violently, Naruto could only grudgingly accept that the Sound-nin had a fair amount of talent. He vaguely registered the echoing of Dosu's voice, the mummified boy explaining how the device on his arm – the Melody Arm – altered sound waves to confuse and injure the foe. Their village was aptly named then, if all of their abilities revolved around the manipulation of sound and sound waves to gain the upper hand over their opponents.

The blue-eyed boy squinted in an attempt to settle his vision. There was a slight glint of sunlight on metal, and Naruto realized that the bells Kin had thrown were attached to ninja wire. _Well, that explains that. _Despite his dizziness, he unsheathed his tantō and swung upwards, applying _**Fūton **_chakra to cleave the wires in two. The simple movement caused waves of nausea to roll over him, and he dropped the weapon immediately to grab his head with a moan.

"You can still move, huh?" came Dosu's voice from above him. "I'll take care of that!" He swung down with the Melody Arm, this time targeting Naruto's head.

"Naruto!" cried Fū, forgetting to use his alias in her panic. She took two senbon to the thigh and one to the shoulder for the distraction.

_Enough's enough, _floated through Naruto's head. The blonde wasn't entirely sure how well he could control his faculties, but pain suddenly flooded his body as _**Jiongu**_ forcibly took over. Black threads shot out from the stitches in his left forearm, wrapping around Dosu's attacking arm. The tendrils wriggled into the holes of the Melody Arm, working to negate the threat which caused their user harm. Dosu tried to use his chakra to amplify the damage his weapon did, but the threads were unresponsive to the assault. Naruto's other forearm lashed out – attached to his body only by the cable-like threads – and grabbed the Sound ninja around the neck.

As more of _**Jiongu**_'s tendrils slithered out from Naruto's arms to restrain Dosu, the blonde spared a careful look at his teammates. Harō was stuck on the defensive, unable to find the time to either move close to strike pressure points or back away to use his patented Lightning techniques with Zaku shooting continuous blasts of air at him. He turned his head the other way, vision swimming with the movement, to see Fū countering salvos of senbon from Kin with her own needles.

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki lurched to his feet, stumbling in the process as his equilibrium was thrown even more off balance. "I'd love to stay longer," he informed Dosu, fighting down nausea in the process, "but I'm pretty sure I don't want to be hit by your little toy again." The mummified boy's visible eye widened marginally. Naruto fought to regain control of _**Jiongu**_, the struggle reminding him of his initial training with the kinjutsu. Finally, he exerted enough willpower to extend his free left hand with the threads to grab his fallen sword, making sure to keep the tendrils from his forearm wrapped around the Melody Arm. Focusing intently upon Dosu's neck to control his strike, he took a second to steady himself before slicing the blade across his opponent's carotid artery.

Nausea reclaimed him, and Naruto wondered absent-mindedly how much damage Dosu had inflicted to him with the one strike to still be feeling the effects. There was a slight slurping noise as _**Jiongu**_ returned to his body, allowing Dosu's corpse to drop to the floor and his lower arms to reconnect with his elbows. Pushed to the back of his mind were the clamoring thoughts regarding the almost sentient nature of _**Jiongu**_'s tendrils; all he could think of was helping his teammates.

Naruto knew that he had no chance of using a pinpointed attack, so a broad one would have to do. He closed his eyes to better concentrate, discovering that without the double vision he could more easily focus on his goal. _Damn fox, _he snarled, _why can't you help me _now?

A dark chuckle echoed in his mind. _**THIS HARDLY QUALIFIES AS MORTAL PERIL. A LITTLE PAIN TEACHES ONE TO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. YOU MAY CONSIDER THAT YOUR 'HELP', WORM.**_

Naruto was startled at the actual response, but he ignored it to the best of his abilities. His hands moved through the seals for _**Fūton: Daitoppa**_, opening his eyes long enough to send the large wall of wind towards Zaku. The spiky-haired boy turned around, shouting, "_**Zankūkyokuha**_; Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!" The powerful blast of air countered Naruto's attack, completely dissipating the Great Breakthrough and allowing the residual of the attack to sweep over him.

Several cuts appeared on his clothes and exposed skin, and Naruto idly wondered how tired he was to have one of his base attacks at a low enough level to be countered so easily. He slumped to the ground, using the trunk of the tree behind him as a backrest. Meanwhile, Zaku was crowing in delight. "How pathetic! I don't even know how you fools got this far with such mediocre skills! This is the perfect warm-up for taking out –"

"_**RAI ZENKAI**_; LIGHTNING DESTRUCTION!"

The earth broke and collapsed as a triangular bolt of lightning rampaged through it. Zaku released a short scream as he was engulfed in the blast, the powerful attack frying him almost instantly. Naruto closed one eye, spying Harō not far Zaku's position, his hands to the ground. The Rain ninja was breathing heavily, and Naruto was about to comment on a job well done before Harō fell on his back, unmoving.

"_**Chiri Sōhō no Jutsu!**_"

Leaving the thought of Harō to later, Naruto smirked to himself, closing his other eye to nurse his double vision; it sounded as if Fū was getting ready to finish her battle. Despite the prevalence of dust in the atmosphere, Fū often complained that it was too much effort to collect enough for a legitimate attack quickly. As such, she had created _**Chiri Sōhō no Jutsu**_ – the Dust Touch Technique – to turn non-living, solid materials to dust and increase the quantity of her specialization. She had explained all this to him on the way to the Akatsuki hideout, so he knew that next would come a powerful _**Jinton **_move, like –

"_**Jinton: Jingadan**__**!**_"

Naruto cocked his head in mild confusion; it wasn't quite what he was expecting, but it worked, he supposed. He had discovered that, because of Hidden Waterfall's (obvious) focus on _**Suiton **_techniques and hatred of the Nanabi no Kabutomushi, Fū had been left in the dust (he chuckled quietly at the unintentional pun) in studying Earth and Wind Releases to combine into _**Jinton**_. As a result, she had practiced and created many of those specialized attacks – such as the performed Dust Release: Dust Fang Bullet – based on many Water Release attacks, the _**Suigadan**_ in this case. When he had called her a copycat and a cheat, she had merely retorted that dust was far more common and easier to create than water was, and he had promptly shut up.

It was both humiliating and humbling to recognize that she was right.

Footsteps brought him back to his senses, and Naruto opened one eye to see Fū standing above him, hands on her hips. He saw her pink eyes shift over to Harō's prone form before she sighed. "Boys," she huffed with a roll of her eyes. Naruto tried to smile at her but it came out as more of a grimace. Fū ignored the gesture and walked over to Harō, picking him up and carrying him over to where Naruto was leaning against the tree.

"Chakra exhaustion…_again_," she stressed, laying him on the ground. "Honestly, what the hell were you two doing? And why did you let him fight when he wasn't fully recovered?"

"He's a…urrggh…a bit difficult to stop when you have…uhnn…no balance," Naruto groaned.

Fū rolled her eyes for a second time. "Honestly, what am I supposed to do with you two?" she asked rhetorically. "Looks like we're here for another night. We'll have to get to the tower tomorrow."

Naruto nodded, but stopped, the motion making him sick again. He thought he could hear Kyūbi laughing at him from his mindscape. _Bastard,_ he thought. Then sleep claimed him.

When Naruto woke in the late morning the next day, the first thing he noticed was that the world no longer spun. He sat up, fighting a brief sense of vertigo, then swiveled his head to see if his balance had been restored. When his self-diagnosis was finished, he stood and stretched. Everything seemed fine.

"Ah, you're awake," remarked Fū. She strolled over and gave him a small amount of the rations she had scavenged from the forest, as well as a canteen. He drank greedily as she continued, "Harō woke about 15 minutes ago. We're ready to leave when you are."

The blonde shot her a quick thumbs-up, and she nodded in response.

They vacated the clearing five minutes later. Harō looked a bit paler than normal, and Naruto guessed that he had recovered maybe 30 percent of his total chakra. Fū kept shooting the cobalt-haired boy worried glances, as if expecting him to collapse at any moment. Fortunately, tree-jumping didn't require a large exertion of energy, and after several hours of travel, they reached the tower in the center of the forest.

All three stared at the building, the same thought drifting through their minds. _Thank Kami._

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu was frustrated. He had spent the better part of the last several days either in the library or in his room with checked out books and scrolls. He had hoped that information on Orochimaru would be available, but because he was a foreigner there were too many restrictions on what he could and could not look at.

Unfortunately, anything that might've been somewhat useful was restricted access.

He wouldn't have had a problem with this obstacle, except that he couldn't risk exposing his or his students' positions until _after_ Orochimaru made his move, and the man's talents were a mystery. The root of the issue actually lay in the fact that a strong amount of the higher level ninja – mostly S-class, but some A-class – did not have their abilities listed within any edition of the Bingo Book, either Hidden Village or bounty hunter. This was because, while several S-class ninja were generally renowned far and wide, few other ninja either knew their skills or lived through encounters to report on them. Kakuzu's book, which was much more expansive than the normal one, was surprisingly lacking in this area as well, if Zetsu's, Konan's, and Orochimaru's absent profiles were any indication.

Kakuzu appreciated the secrecy in his own case, but it became a rather frustrating occurrence when he needed the information for his own uses – especially when he was going up against someone of Orochimaru's caliber.

A knock sounded at the main door of his room, and he called out, "Yes?"

The voice that returned to him was pure business; ANBU, he guessed. "Your team just checked into the tower of the Forest of Death. They have passed the second stage of the Chūnin Exams. I am here to escort you to the tower in preparation for the third stage."

"…Very well," Kakuzu acknowledged. He placed down the scroll he had been reviewing and went to open the door. "Lead the way."

_Orochimaru…what are you capable of? Time marches on...it appears as if we will find out soon enough._

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: **This took a fair amount of editing...lots of sentences/paragraphs/sections I wasn't overly happy about, so I do appreciate your guys' patience. With school taking up time, I feel like I'm currently on a comfortable schedule for updating, so you might be able to expect the next chapter in 5-6 weeks (though this is an estimate ONLY). On a brief (overly frustrated/excited) anime/manga note - I'm about ready to stab the animators in the face...and I'm very thankful that the Tsuchikage is going to fight; gives me some more moves for Fū.

A couple of notes about the moves/abilities mentioned in this chapter. Taijutsu: **_Rakanken _**(the style Fū/Kakuzu roughly use) is used by Jirōbō of the Sound Four; **_Shindō Yōshin-ryū _ **(Naruto's taijutsu style) is a legitimate Japanese fighting style which translates to "New Willow School"; **_kyūsho-jutsu _**(Harō's taijutsu style) is the name for pressure point fighting, an idea I intended to give his character all along. Knowing little to nothing about fighting in general, and having little to no luck finding actual moves, kata, etc. for ANYTHING online, I have full intention of trying to find a book to better describe their fighting. I did the best I could to find the correct information on all the physical fighting I used in the meantime, though.

Ninjutsu: The massive Lightning attack Harō uses against Zaku is a move Kakashi (apparently) uses in the third Naruto movie, though the name wasn't online (so I made one up!) I tried to balance out Harō as best as possible, so please let me know how I did with him...considering how unbelievable or stupid several of the fights in canon are, I couldn't have done _that _badly. The Fire technique the Waterfall ninja use was featured in one of the recent (stupid, pointless... *grumbles*) filler episodes. And I've also had full intention of making several of Fū's moves _**Jinton**_ variations of _**Suiton **_techniques...I think the transition is quite plausible, considering how malleable both elements are (or could be). Also, if you actually saw it, I finally managed to explain the title and summary of the fic, something I've been meaning to do for awhile...so, congrats to me, I suppose.

Lastly, a big thanks to Raisengan, who is credited with creating **_Chiri Sōhō no Jutsu, _**Fū's Dust Touch Technique.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to review the last chapter, and please let me know how I did with this one in another review!


	9. Strategy

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

"You look like hell."

Naruto shot Kakuzu a filthy look. "You try spending three days in a forest surrounded by enemies and engaged in near-constant battles to the death, then come talk to me."

The fake Jōnin leveled an even stare at his student. "Your excuses are unfounded. Perhaps your skill level is not as high as you believe it to be; many of the missions I have embarked on were undoubtedly more dangerous than whatever challenges you faced in that forest." Naruto seethed quietly as Kakuzu turned his attention to Fū. "On the other hand, you appear relatively undamaged," he noted.

Fū smiled at Kakuzu. "I try," she chirped.

Though he hated to admit it, Naruto knew that his teacher had a point. Fū had emerged from the Forest of Death almost completely unscathed: a couple of tiny pinpricks from where Kin's senbon had struck true and a jagged tear in her scarf from where she had ripped it to use as a bandage for Harō, but otherwise she was completely clean.

The blonde quickly analyzed himself. He knew that his head covering was crusted with dried blood from his previously ruptured ears (courtesy of Dosu), and a mixture of blood and bile had splattered onto his shirt and scarf. Dirt and grime covered a fair amount of his clothes, arm bandages, and skin, and the cuts from Zaku's powerful air attack remained on his body, Kyūbi refusing to heal them on principle.

By far, the worst off was Harō. Bruises littered his face from the beating Hōki had given him, and there were multiple slashes in his clothing from his battle with Zaku. The small burn on his leg from his battle with the Hidden Waterfall team – which Fū had attempted to treat with native plants and her scarf as a wrapping – had turned pink and blistered slightly. Like Naruto, he was covered in dust and other signs of tramping through the wilderness, and exhaustion exuded from his body in waves.

Naruto wondered briefly why Fū didn't have the same dirt smears symbolizing days in the wilderness that he and Harō were covered in, but realized quickly that she must have taken the time to remove them by using her control over _**Doton **_and _**Jinton**_. _Damn her talent._

The trio had arrived at the tower 40 minutes prior, and Kakuzu had only just appeared, led by one of Konoha's ANBU. His presence, though normally intimidating and slightly foreboding, actually relieved Naruto somewhat; it meant that, despite all of the obstacles in the Forest of Death, Kakuzu was still incognito and thus the mission (whatever it was) was still underway.

He _really_ wanted to talk with the older ninja about what the hell was going on though.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it, Kazu's the favorite," Naruto jibed bitterly. "Can we talk?"

Before Kakuzu could respond, Mitarashi Anko walked over to the quartet. "We've prepared a room for you guys to stay in while we wait for the other participants to arrive," she informed them. "It's down that hall, third door on the left. We'll let you know when the second exam is officially over." Kakuzu nodded in understanding and the purple-haired proctor walked away.

"Grab Harō," Kakuzu ordered Fū. "I believe you are more capable of handling tasks than Shinobu is, at this point."

"Why I oughta –!" snarled Naruto, rolling up his sleeves as if in preparation to attack his teacher. Fū placed a restricting hand on his shoulder and shook her head in a gesture he translated as, 'Let it go'. He growled angrily but acquiesced, following the bounty hunter down the hallway as Fū hefted Harō up off the floor and half-carried, half-dragged him to their assigned room.

-l-l-l-

Midnight found Naruto lying wide awake, his thoughts tumultuous.

For all that the blonde felt he owed Kakuzu – taking him in, raising him, teaching him (even if the man had tried to kill him first) – there were times when the old ninja could be simply _infuriating_. Kakuzu was in the habit of keeping his personal agenda to himself, only letting Naruto know the details of his missions if he found it extremely pertinent. Normally, Naruto would shrug and write it off as a quirk of a ninja who had lived alone for far too long. But in the rare cases when the blonde was involved in some plot of the former Taki-nin's, Naruto would admit that knowing what the hell was going on was a nice perk.

Naruto felt that his relationship with Kakuzu was more complicated than it needed to be. Truthfully, there were times when he wasn't even sure if the nukenin liked him at all. Kakuzu's antagonistic and sadistic nature were so counterintuitive to every stereotype Naruto knew of 'caring' and 'family' that it was hard to make the two ideas compatible with the only man to acknowledge his existence. The addition of Fū to their (already) semi-dysfunctional group – while not a mistake – had certainly opened up more realms for Kakuzu to aggravate his blonde pupil, often done by comparing the prowess of the two Jinchūriki (though since Naruto and Fū had only had three months together with Kakuzu before the former had left to train with Kisame, opportunity had so far been limited).

Case in point: upon arriving in their room, Kakuzu had done little but praise Fū on her skills in the second portion of the Chūnin Exams. Granted, 'praise' was a loose term – he had focused more on verbally abusing Naruto with regard to his lack of talent and unkempt state while saying nothing of the sort about the green-haired girl – but the lack of attention to Fū's faults made Naruto angry and frustrated with her and Kakuzu. It wasn't the former's fault of course; Naruto could hardly blame his fellow Jinchūriki for appearing from the Forest of Death in better condition than he had. Still, the bite of feeling replaced – and subsequently ignored and ridiculed – stung. Given time and privacy, he would've liked to talk to Kakuzu about the man's treatment of him.

If that was the only problem, Naruto might have postponed the conversation he wished to have with Kakuzu. The real issue was that the blonde actually _needed_ to talk to his teacher about something else very important (though he snorted at the idea that Kakuzu would ever consider _hurt feelings_ 'important'). There were suspicions crawling through his mind about their purpose in the Chūnin Exams, and very few of said assumptions sat well with him. But every time he had tried conversing with Kakuzu, the bounty hunter had merely shrugged him off or ignored him.

Resulting in his current sleepless scenario.

Naruto swung his legs over the side of his bed, noting that both Harō and Fū were sound asleep. He crept to the door separating their room from Kakuzu's, opening it and slipping quietly inside.

His stealth proved to be unnecessary when he saw Kakuzu sitting on his bed, studying a scroll. He waited for his teacher to say something, but after a minute passed during which Kakuzu only blinked and continued to read, Naruto grew annoyed. "I've been trying to talk to you all day," he accused suddenly, frustration evident in his voice as he took a heavy step forward.

"I had not noticed," intoned Kakuzu, unraveling a bit more of the parchment. His lack of attention to Naruto caused the blonde to grow steadily angrier.

Fueled by his growing aggravation, Naruto lunged forward and grabbed the scroll out of Kakuzu's hands. "We _will_ talk," he growled.

Kakuzu stood up, and Naruto remembered in that instant why getting on the man's bad side was a terrible idea. The nukenin's very being exuded a mixture of power and evil, of respect demanded and expected. Naruto gulped. "You presume to order me around, brat?" asked Kakuzu, his voice deathly quiet. "Me, who saved you from a wretched fate, trained you and molded you to be a proper ninja?"

Naruto hesitated in answering. Despite everything he and Kakuzu had been through – or perhaps, _because_ of everything they had been through – Naruto often forgot how absolutely terrifying the other ninja could be. There was an overwhelming pressure in the atmosphere, and Naruto felt as if Kakuzu's immense chakra was suffocating him. "N-no," he choked out.

And then the tension was gone. Naruto breathed, surprised at how easy the action came to him. Kakuzu held out his hand, silently demanding the scroll. His pupil handed it over wordlessly. There was a moment as Kakuzu returned to studying the paper in which Naruto wondered if he was better off leaving the room. Following this thought, he turned around and made for the door, but a crisp, "Halt", made him pause. "You wished to say something?" Kakuzu continued as if the previous moment had not occurred.

Dozens of thoughts ran through Naruto's head, each one as pertinent as the last. "Why are we here?" he finally settled on asking, choosing to confirm his suspicions and facing the older ninja once more.

Beneath the Rain ninja outfit, Kakuzu raised one eyebrow. "I have already told you not to look a gift horse in the mouth, brat," was the easy response.

"You're after Orochimaru, right?" he hazarded, ignoring the excuse. Though there was no visible reaction, Naruto knew that he had the man's attention. Kakuzu had told the Genin days ago (before the written test) that Konoha wasn't watching them nearly as much as he would have guessed, and so Naruto felt comfortable openly discussing his ideas. "I'm not stupid, Kakuzu. I know you, and I know that this whole thing is just a charade. What'd that woman from Akatsuki want?"

There was a long moment of silence during which Kakuzu's strange green and red eyes bore holes through his student. Naruto tried not to fidget under the intensity of his scrutiny. "No, I suppose you are not stupid," he stated finally. "I have seen to that. What draws you to the conclusion that I am here for Orochimaru?"

"We had a run-in with some of his Genin in the Forest of Death," Naruto explained. He pointed to the blood crusted into the cloth around his ears. "They did this. I'm not sure what the exact attack was, but apparently all of them had abilities related to manipulating sound. I'm pretty sure I got caught by some sort of auditory genjutsu."

"Perhaps," the bounty hunter mused, "but hearing is an interesting sense to manipulate. If they truly did have some mastery over sound, then it would not be a far stretch to assume they would be able to attack your inner ear with specific pitches and frequencies of sound waves. Such an assault would make you experience a loss in equilibrium and thus could have results similar to experiencing an auditory genjutsu. It could also be extrapolated that the more sensitive hearing you inherited from your prisoner would make you particularly vulnerable to such an attack.

"Still, I am disappointed that you were caught so unaware. Have you learned nothing?"

Naruto had the fair grace to look slightly ashamed. "I was caught off guard. It won't happen again –"

"See that it does not."

"—but how do you even know all of that?"

"…I have been alive for a very long time. Sometimes there is little to do on the road but learn. Physiology is an important topic for ninja to understand." Kakuzu peered at the blonde before turning his attention back to the scroll. "As long as you have learned something from this experience, I consider the results satisfactory."

There was a beat of silence while Naruto waited for Kakuzu to say something else. When he didn't, the Jinchūriki prompted, "Orochimaru?"

"Why are you taking such an interest in my affairs brat?"

"I'm just trying to understand," shrugged the blonde. Kakuzu leveled him with an even stare but made a sound Naruto translated to a heavy sigh.

"I have been…asked…to eliminate Orochimaru."

Naruto arched an eyebrow. "Akatsuki wants you to kill Orochimaru? If they're so interested in the money, why don't they do it?"

"They have no interest in his bounty. Apparently he was once a member of their ranks. Now they want him dead. Their intelligence suggests that he is slated to make an appearance during the Chūnin Exams. Your run-ins with his subordinates would seem to lend credence to such rumors."

"You get to keep the money?" Kakuzu nodded, and Naruto whistled. "That's gotta be a pretty pen – wait…" He paused, a frown marring his lips as he went over what he knew about Akatsuki. "Kisame said that Akatsuki's primary goal is collecting money. If they're passing up such a huge sum by letting you keep it, there's gotta be another agenda here." Kakuzu remained oppressively silent as Naruto reached his conclusion. "You know…what their real plan is, don't you?" he asked quietly.

Kakuzu stared at his first student intently, wondering what his next course of action should be. Naruto had great potential: large chakra reserves, the ability to utilize all the natural elements through a powerful kinjutsu, a summoning contract, swordsmanship, a certain degree of intelligence, and a moderate amount of deductive reasoning skills. The bounty hunter supposed that, given time, Naruto could eventual surpass even himself. Unless Akatsuki interfered…

It was a strange dilemma Kakuzu found himself in. The lure of Akatsuki was strong – after all, world domination and oodles of money were practically the man's dream come true. On the other hand, Kakuzu had grown…_used to_ (he mentally stopped himself from using the word 'attached') both Naruto and Fū. There was a lot of value in having the two Jinchūriki working under his command, among which was the potential profit splitting of any future bounties they would collect.

As far as resources went, his two students were far from being disposable. But now he was being forced to weigh the consequences of keeping them – Akatsuki coming after him a highly likely scenario – against the option of turning them over to the criminal organization and reaping the profit for the deed.

_Screw it_, he thought, and the words were so _Naruto_ that Kakuzu almost laughed. "Akatsuki has its sights set on capturing the Bijū in order to achieve world domination," he stated bluntly.

Naruto was so shocked at this revelation, let alone the fact that Kakuzu had just told him, he took a step back. "W-what?"

"The woman who approached me is named Konan," he began, choosing to repeat the information he had divulged minutes before. "She told me that Orochimaru was once a member of Akatsuki and that they had evidence he had plans to invade Konoha during the Chūnin Exams. I was informed that they wanted me to kill him, and if I refused, they would take Fū."

Naruto pondered this information as a smirk formed on his lips. "You got blackmailed by Akatsuki to come here and you accepted their offer in order to save Fū's life. Kakuzu, you really do care!" As if to emphasize how touching the moment was, Naruto placed a hand to his heart in mock appreciation.

"Do not think I did it for either her sake or yours!" Kakuzu denied venomously. "Konan offered me the money Orochimaru's head is worth, and that was not an opportunity I was willing to pass up. Your safety is no concern of mine."

The blonde _**Jiongu**_ wielder peered intently at the former Taki-nin. Despite all their years together, Naruto still found it extraordinarily difficult to read Kakuzu when the older ninja didn't want him to. "Okay Kakuzu, if you say so." Then he paused. "Wait…" he realized, "Konan didn't say anything about me…does that mean they don't know about…?"

"That I do not know," admitted the bounty hunter, "but we should assume that they know of your condition in spite of the lack of evidence."

Naruto nodded his understanding, but then remembered something else he wanted to ask Kakuzu about. "In the forest," he began slowly, mind carefully choosing what he wanted to say, "there was a moment when _**Jiongu**_ kind of…took over."

Kakuzu stared at him. Naruto felt that he could almost see his teacher's thought process in mentally debating what to tell him. "Kinjutsu are classed as such because there is some property of the technique that is either dangerous to the user or too powerful for widespread use among a population; sometimes both," he chose to say. "Your experience with _**Jiongu**_ is limited, but the threads have a level of sentience that is necessary for many of the higher functions the technique is capable of. There is an instinctual understanding of self-preservation that connects the threads to your body. I presume you were in some form of danger?" At Naruto's nod, the bounty hunter continued, "Then _**Jiongu**_ was doing its job by acting in a defensive manner and protecting its host from a potential threat. Do not worry yourself with such trivialities."

Sensing a dismissal and pondering this new revelation, Naruto began walking to the door but stopped to say rather defensively, "Fū had the easy opponent."

"Jealously does not become you, Naruto," Kakuzu tossed out as Naruto continued his trek back to his bed. The blonde allowed this comment to process as Kakuzu continued, "We both know there is a reason you are the leader of this team. There is a _reason_," he emphasized, "why you are the only other individual to become imbued with _**Jiongu**_. You should not allow my sadism to compromise your role in the team or your opinion of your teammates...or yourself."

The Kyūbi's jailor went to bed feeling an unfamiliar mix of satisfaction and relief.

-l-l-l-

The remaining several days passed without incidence as Kakuzu pored over scroll after scroll gathering information and Harō recovered from his injuries suffered within the Forest of Death. Finally, a Konoha Chūnin came and informed them that the second exam was over and that they should follow him to where the Hokage was slated to make an announcement.

They arrived in a large arena with viewing balconies placed high along the two longer walls and a large statue of two hands in the Ram seal at the front wall. Naruto took his place next to the other Genin teams, Fū and Harō standing linearly behind him. As Kakuzu moved to stand next to the other Jōnin teachers, Naruto took notice of whom his team's competition was: almost all Leaf-nin he noticed in disgust, including the Uchiha, Nara, both Hyūga, and all their team members, as well as a team led by a silver-haired adolescent and a lone group from Hidden Sand consisting of Gaara and his teammates.

Naruto's mind wandered as the Sandaime Hokage began to talk. He was still attempting to wrap his mind around all the information Kakuzu had given him several nights prior. If Akatsuki truly was after the Bijū, then he and Fū were in grave danger. Both Jinchūriki had a fair amount of skill in their respective areas – at least Chūnin-level, if not higher, he guessed – but compared to the threat Akatsuki posed, they might as well be flies. Naruto couldn't get an extremely accurate gauge of each member's power level, but since he hadn't yet beaten Kakuzu (an honorary member of sorts, it seemed) or Kisame (a full-fledged member) in battle, it was unlikely that he or his fellow demon container stood much of a chance against any one ninja anyway, let alone a group of them.

Perhaps the most curious piece of information Naruto kept coming back to was something Kakuzu had not directly told him – the fact that the bounty hunter did not have a designated alliance to the shadowy organization. Naruto had long entertained the notion that the ex-Waterfall ninja was a self-serving, opportunistic man (read: selfish bastard), and by revealing Akatsuki's real plans to him when he could have easily kept quiet (which would have made more sense if he was completely allied with the group), Kakuzu had proved that he would do whatever was in his best interest. Whether turning in the two Jinchūriki was more lucrative than keeping them alive was an entirely different story, Naruto didn't have enough information to accurately predict.

Still, it boded well that Kakuzu had confided such sensitive information unto his blonde pupil. Such an act indicated that the old nukenin actually cared about the two youths – even if he would never admit it, or else showed it in the worst way possible. But barring that, Naruto now had time to plan. For what he could only guess, but he knew that he would have to get much stronger, much faster, if he ever had hope of surviving Akatsuki and getting vengeance against Konoha.

The undercover Rain Genin was brought from his reverie by a nudge from Fū. He shot her a questioning look, to which she responded by tugging him up one set of stairs to the balcony. "One versus one preliminary matches," she whispered as they walked. She nodded to the giant statue, and Naruto noticed a large screen had appeared behind it, displaying the names Uchiha Sasuke and Akadō Yoroi. "They're randomizing the names," she added, "and those two are the first match-up."

The pair took up a position far away from the other competitors, Harō and Kakuzu following their lead. Naruto noticed that most of the Leaf ninja were grouped close together, while the team from Hidden Sand stood far away from the rest, nearest the stairs. He turned his attention to the arena, where the last of the loyal Uchiha was taking up an unusual stance against a purple-clothed man with what appeared to be solid black eyes. There were no significant distinguishing traits about him, though his outfit signified his allegiance to the unknown silver-haired Genin…who had disappeared at some point, Naruto noted belatedly. _...I should really pay more attention to my surroundings._

With that thought in mind, Naruto focused on the combatants as the first match started. If he had any hope of advancing through the Chūnin Exams and fulfilling his oath of revenge, the best idea would be to observe the competition.

Though he didn't know the reason, Naruto noticed rather quickly that the Uchiha down below was fighting – rather ineffectively – with only taijutsu as the other Genin stole his chakra. As a clan, the Uchiha had been renowned for their prowess and variability with ninjutsu, a side effect of possessing the Sharingan. The fact that Sasuke was not using either his _kekkei genkai_ or any ninjutsu was a bit of an anomaly.

As Yoroi dove forward with a proclamation of victory, Sasuke appeared under him and kicked him skyward. _Maybe he's trying to prove a point,_ Naruto mused as the Uchiha followed his opponent into the air.

"_**Shishi Rendan!**_" shouted Sasuke, propelling the older Genin into the ground with a hard kick.

The proctor – a short, sickly looking man wearing a bandana – knelt over Yoroi to check his condition before pronouncing the adolescent unconscious. When Sasuke was declared the winner, Copy Ninja Kakashi appeared behind his student and took him away. Kakuzu hemmed thoughtfully. "It appears as if the Uchiha clan still retains a fearsome reputation despite a lack of quantity," mulled the old ninja. "He will make a fine bounty someday."

_Kakuzu recognized that he wasn't playing to his strengths either,_ thought Naruto. It wasn't altogether surprising considering how analytical Kakuzu was, but it was still nice to have the confirmation of his own thoughts reflected by his mentor.

"Begin!"

Naruto snapped back to attention, focusing upon the two figures currently…standing completely motionless. Judging by the high collar of one and the black bodysuit of the other, the match-up was the Aburame versus Gaara's male teammate. Placed next to the Suna-nin was a bulky, bandaged…_thing_. The proctor coughed into the silence, the sound unnaturally loud in the stillness of the auditorium. Naruto shifted from one foot to the other. Fū twitched uncomfortably. Lee shouted something about youth.

The Sand ninja collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Kankurō!" gasped the female Suna-nin.

The bandaged lump began to writhe uncontrollably before it unwrapped to reveal a howling Kankurō. The Sand Genin slapped at his clothes as Fū turned to Kakuzu in explanation. "Um…what just happened?"

The fake Jōnin gestured towards the arena. "It appears as if the Aburame will explain."

Indeed, the bug-nin had already launched into a brief monologue. "My _kikaichū_ latched onto your body and tried to siphon out your chakra. Imagine their surprise when the body they attacked had no chakra circulatory system, but instead a series of chakra strings trailing to your actual body." The Aburame adjusted his dark glasses. "It was unfortunate that you were matched against me. Such a tactic would have perhaps worked against an opponent who did not have the capability to track and neutralize chakra." He glanced towards the proctor. "It would be prudent of you to call the match. My opponent will very shortly have no chakra left unless my insects are commanded to leave him alone."

The proctor called the match in favor of Aburame Shino. Fū turned to Kakuzu, a light frown marring her features. "I'm not entirely sure I understand."

"I think I do," interrupted Harō. "Hidden Sand has forces which specialize in puppetry. Puppeteers attach chakra strings to their constructs in order to control them. At some point, this Kankurō must have switched places with his puppet. But the Aburame clan uses the parasitic insects hosted within their bodies as their primary method of battle. These insects feed on chakra, which probably ate the chakra strings and followed them back to their source, simultaneously causing the puppet's collapse and Kankurō's position to be revealed." Kakuzu nodded his agreement with Harō's assessment while Fū let out an 'oh' in understanding.

Silence reigned among the team, Naruto staring intently down into the arena in preparation for the next match. Suddenly Fū chirped, "My turn!" and moved towards the stairs.

Naruto hooked a hand around her elbow before she moved out of his range. "Don't do anything fancy," he warned her. "Remember that we're still trying to stay under the radar." The Nanabi Jinchūriki nodded, prompting the blonde to release his hold on her. She continued to the stairs, making a point to ignore the teal eyes of Gaara boring into her head as she passed.

Entering the combat area, Fū took her place across from a rotund boy – Akimichi Chōji, if the screen announcing matches was any indication – and waited for the proctor to signal the beginning of the match. The sickly man did so, and Chōji immediately shot her an apologetic glance. "I don't like fighting, but Asuma-sensei said he'll buy me barbeque if I win." He formed two hand signs and shouted, "_**Baika no Jutsu!**_"

Fū fought the urge to laugh. Where once stood a slightly chubby boy, now was, for lack of a better description, a large ball. "Interesting attack," she managed with a slight giggle.

"I'm not done yet! _**Nikudan Sensha**_; Human Bullet Tank!" Jets of chakra shot out from Chōji's clothing as he tucked his arms, legs, and head into his body and began to spin. The spinning turned into a powerful roll which immediately moved in Fū's direction.

"Okay, slightly more impressive," she amended, jumping aside as the Genin passed by. He was forced to turn in a wide, slow arc to target her again. _Slow moving, relatively linear attack…this shouldn't be too hard._ Fū waited until Chōji was only two dozen feet away before forming quick seals._ Tiger, Hare, Boar, Dog…_"_**Doton: Doryūheki**_; Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!" The green-haired girl slapped her hands to the ground, and a two foot thick wall of stone rose from the floor.

Chōji struck the defensive technique, the wall cracking and flaking under the force of his _**Nikudan Sensha**_. _Huh, I thought for sure that would knock him out,_ thought Fū. _Alright, Plan B it is._ She ascended lightly to the top of her wall and peered down at Chōji, who was drilling away at the rock. Noticing his rotation slowing down, she reached back and grabbed one of the umbrellas holstered in the red cylinder she carried. She channeled some of her Bijū's chakra into it before throwing it into the air and forming the sign of the Tiger. "_**Joro Senbon!**_"

Fū back-flipped off the wall as a hail of needles peppered the general area. Most of them clattered uselessly against the floor, but enough buried themselves in the Akimichi that the boy was forced out of his ball form, lying flat on his back. "You should be paralyzed," Fū offered as explanation, seeing Chōji struggle to move. The proctor – Gekkō Hayate, he had introduced himself as – came over, studying the situation and analyzing Chōji's condition before announcing the kunoichi as the winner.

Naruto cocked his head to the side in mild curiosity. That victory seemed a bit too easy. Granted, Fū should've been stronger than a vast majority of the Genin present, but after watching the impressive physical and analytical displays of both the Uchiha and the Aburame boys (respectively), the Akimichi's exhibition was rather…disappointing.

Unbeknownst to Naruto, Fū's round set a precedent for a series of unflattering matches for the Konoha Genin.

The next battle ended up being a veritable catfight between the platinum blonde Yamanaka Ino and the pink-haired banshee on the Uchiha's team – Haruno Sakura, according to the screen. There was a _long_ exchange of kicks and punches – during which Naruto almost screamed at how asinine the battle was – where nothing resulted but stamina depletion on both sides. Naruto would admit to being marginally impressed with the Yamanaka's ingenuity of using her own hair as a chakra conduit to trap Sakura and activate her clan's _**Shintenshin no Jutsu**_. However, the lack of follow-through with the technique and then the subsequent double knockout was a disgusting (if deserved) end to an overall pointless waste of time.

After the two unconscious girls were carried back up to the balcony, Temari (the blonde, female Suna-nin) and Tsurugi Misumi (the teammate of the Uchiha's opponent) were called down to the battlefield. The match piqued Naruto's interest primarily because of the fan Temari wielded, a potential sign of her aptitude with Wind Release ninjutsu; having the same elemental affinity, he was curious to see what abilities she possessed. When the proctor announced the beginning of the fight, Misumi immediately moved towards Temari with an almost flowing motion. She kept him at a distance with bursts of chakra-enhanced winds until Misumi got around them with an impossible-looking twisting motion. The Leaf-nin slithered towards the kunoichi, who folded up her fan and swung when Misumi came into range.

There was a resounding _crack_ as the fan's protective steel casing connected with Misumi's skull. Most of the spectators winced at the sound, and even Naruto was unable to completely suppress his own small grimace. Below, the Leaf Genin dropped in a boneless heap. Temari smirked as the proctor called the match in her favor.

Naruto would've been able to accept these losses on Konoha's behalf and given them the benefit that there were some talented ninja among their ranks if it wasn't for the next round. Hyūga Neji was paired up against Hyūga Hinata, and judging by the trembling of the girl's hands (and body), it was not a battle she wished to partake in. The point was proven further when, instead of moving into anything resembling the _**J**__**ū**__**ken**_ style of taijutsu Naruto knew a little about (courtesy of Kakuzu), Neji remained upright and began to berate and ridicule his relative. Naruto mentally snorted at the tactic; the Hyūga were renowned as a proud and powerful clan, and it would come as a huge disgrace to have what appeared to be their clan heiress (if what Neji was saying was true) give up against a branch family member –

"I f-forfeit," stammered Hinata.

Naruto's jaw almost dropped. _That's the power of the Hyūga clan! THAT'S PATHETIC!_

Outraged and insulted at the display of cowardice, the blonde had to be prodded out of his shock by Fū. "You're up," she whispered, and Naruto looked at the screen to find 'Inuzuka Kiba vs. Shinobu' displayed in large letters.

_Okay,_ thought the blonde, making his way to the arena, _I can't use __**Jiongu**__ or more than one type of nature manipulation; way too suspicious for a Genin. Probably should stick with __**Fūton**__, since I haven't learned that much __**Doton**__ and there isn't much water here for __**Suiton**__._

_There's my kenjutsu,_ he considered, taking his place across from the wild-looking Inuzuka Kiba, _but I won't be able to use any wind manipulation with it 'cause of how advanced it is. Taijutsu?_ He peered curiously at the Leaf Genin and dog facing him. _Maybe._

"Begin!"

"Oi, Shinobu!" Kiba shouted, "You may as well give up now, 'cause me and Akamaru are gonna wipe the floor with you!" The small white pup standing next to the Konoha-nin barked his agreement.

Naruto felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. _Jeez, is this what it's like for Kakuzu to deal with me? What a pain…no wonder he's always so cranky._

As the fake Genin silently swore to refrain from overestimating his abilities around Kakuzu ever again, the nukenin's words from the other night echoed in his head. _"Still, I am disappointed that you were caught so unaware. Have you learned nothing?"_

_So I'll take my time and choose my attacks carefully. Wait for him to make the first move and then decide how to counter it._

"_**Gijy**__**ū**__** Ninp**__**ō**__**, Shikyaku no Jutsu!**_" Kiba dropped to all fours, and Naruto watched as the boy's nails grew longer, his pupils turning into animalistic slits. Then Kiba charged.

Naruto's eyes widened marginally. _Fast!_ Despite his surprise, the blonde quickly twisted out of the way of the attack, allowing the Inuzuka to fly by harmlessly. Kiba landed on the floor, claws gouging marks into the tile. He growled slightly, palming several objects Naruto recognized as smoke bombs. The tools were tossed towards the incognito Genin, exploding upon impact and filling the immediate area with smoke.

Vision obscured, Naruto fell back on the teachings of his taijutsu style. Focusing intently on his other senses, Naruto managed to gracefully avoid the next two slash attempts Kiba made at him. Then realization hit him, and the former Konoha citizen nearly slapped himself for his stupidity. Timing his attack correctly, he slapped his palms together and then pointed them at the ground. "_**Fūton: Repp**__**ū**__**sh**__**ō**__**.**_"

Suddenly he was airborne. The aerial view allowed for Naruto to oversee the second effect of the Violent Wind Palm: the dispersion of the smoke. He landed easily on his feet and faced Kiba, who was growling in slight frustration. "Let's go, Akamaru!" shouted Kiba. The dog-nin threw a pill at his partner – whose fur immediately turned a burnt red – before crunching on one himself. Their chakra boosted, Akamaru jumped atop Kiba's back, prompting the boy to create a hand sign. "_**Gijy**__**ū**__** Ninp**__**ō, Jyūjin Bunshin!**_"

With a poof of smoke, two feral-looking Kibas replaced the boy and his dog, both in the taijutsu stance of the Four Legs Technique Kiba had activated earlier. The pair dove for Naruto in a wild lunge, claws outstretched. He danced around the first attack and ducked the second, unsheathing his tantō and catching the nails of a swipe from the first's doubling-back with the blade.

Mind working overtime, Naruto quickly considered his options. Judging by the speed and ferocity of the Inuzuka and his animal familiar, the _**Shindo Yōshin-Ryū **_taijutsu style was out of the question; given enough time, he could probably wear Kiba down enough to actually use the style effectively, but there had to be a better (and faster) victory method than waiting.

Naruto took a shallow slash to his arm for his inattention, deciding to stick with basic kenjutsu and his wind jutsu. The blonde moved into a fluid pattern of dodging both Man-Beast Clones, attempting to antagonize Kiba into making a mistake through his inability to land a hit. After several more passes, all close enough where Naruto could feel the breeze from the attacks, the Inuzuka and his pet immediately moved into dual, powerful tornados with a roar of, "_**Gatsūga!**_"

The undercover Rain ninja blinked. "Well that's not good." He formed the seals for _**Fūton: Daitoppa**_, focusing on shaping the wind to be blunt instead of slicing. Pushing forward with his hands, a thick wall of air was sent out, crafted to create area between the two grey whirls heading straight for him.

Kiba and his clone were forced to separate to avoid the attack, creating just enough space for Naruto to capitalize on his technique.

Taking his tantō, Naruto raised the weapon and sliced into the higher of the two grey tornados while narrowly evading the second one. There was a yip of pain as both likenesses of Kiba landed behind Naruto, the one the blonde attacked transforming back into Akamaru. Red slashes were visible on the small dog's legs, and he lay down to lick his wounds, whining pitifully.

Kiba somehow managed to look even more feral at this discovery. "You'll pay for hurting Akamaru!" he howled at the Jinchūriki. "_**TSŪGA!**_"

As the drilling tornado that was Kiba lunged towards him, Naruto knew that he had to end the battle. Before _**Jiongu**_, before Water and Earth Releases, before kenjutsu, Naruto had worked on his mastery over Wind Release jutsu. Naruto was by no means an expert at _**Fūton **_techniques, but Kakuzu had taught him enough of the basics that the blonde had a good idea of how to manipulate the formless element. It was a challenge, and with all the subsequent training he had found little time to actually work on his skill with it, but he had created one technique that – theoretically – would be powerful enough to end the fight.

"Worth a shot," he muttered, carefully molding his chakra and forming the needed seals. Wind whipped around him, ruffling his clothes as it became concentrated around his right fist. "_**Fūton**_…" he began, drawing back the entire limb. Kiba was fifteen feet away.

"…_**Senp**__**ū**__**ken**_; Whirlwind Fist!" In the instant Naruto threw his punch, all the condensed air was released in the form of a miniature cyclone. At such close range and with a huge amount of chakra pumped into it, the ninjutsu collided with and easily overran Kiba's taijutsu, blowing the animalistic boy away and into the far wall. Cracks spider-webbed out from the Leaf Genin's point of impact, and he remained imprinted in the concrete for a number of seconds before collapsing face-first to the tiled floor with a groan.

The proctor coughed. "Um, winner: Shinobu of Amegakure."

"Congrats!" cheered Fū upon Naruto's return to the balcony. She moved forward as if to embrace him, but thought better of it and instead gave him a bright smile. Naruto returned it with one of his own, though it ended up looking cheekier than Fū's did.

"It was quite an impressive display of your skill," Harō commented. The blonde took this as a sign that the boy recognized his abilities, and merely nodded in response. He looked to Kakuzu, secretly hoping for some sign from the older ninja that he had done well. When the man inclined his head slightly, Naruto turned his attention back to the floor, a small grin on his features.

Though he hated to admit it, Kakuzu's opinion of his skill did matter to the boy. Seeking approval from the one person who had seen something great in him was not unexpected, simply desirable given his former background in Konoha, he rationalized. Satisfied with the fact that his teacher acknowledged what he was capable of, Naruto vaguely heard Fū wishing Harō good luck.

Curious, the Jinchūriki glanced at the screen announcing competitors, finding the next battle was between Harō and Sai, the (vaguely) Uchiha look-alike from the same team. While the two males prepared to face-off, Naruto registered that Harō looked…off. It took a moment to realize why, but his eyes widened marginally when a peripheral glance at his feet confirmed his thoughts.

The twin katana that Harō normally carried with him were placed on the floor next to him instead of sheathed on his back.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something about this anomaly, but then decided not to. Harō had proven himself intelligent – if not frustrating at times with his single-minded devotion to 'Pein-sama' – which led to the conclusion that the cobalt-haired youth knew what he was doing.

Below, Harō and Sai were enmeshed in a silent taijutsu battle, neither combatant giving an inch. Watching intently, Naruto was able to admit the _**kyūsho-jutsu**_ style of combat which Harō employed was rather impressive when not outnumbered three-to-one. It was fluid and graceful in execution, almost comparable to the teachings of _**Shindo Yōshin-Ryū**_ and – though he hadn't seen it (what a freaking disappointment!) – even closer to what he had heard about _**Jūken**_. Though it was strange that he hadn't yet landed a hit on the Konoha-nin…

Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously as Harō blocked Sai's tantō with a kunai, the _clang_ of metal on metal resounding clearly to the balcony. _So, perhaps we're not the only higher level ninja in these exams. It seems that even Konoha doesn't play fair when it comes to certain things...or people_, he amended, revisiting the concept that Sai was on the Uchiha's team.

Sai jumped back as Harō struck a pressure point on his arm. The fight had continued in a relative stalemate for long enough that he was getting rather tired of keeping up his façade. Putting some more distance between him and his opponent, Sai whipped out his specialized scroll and quickly drew a bird. "_**Chōjū Giga**_," he stated, using his chakra to bring the bird to life. The ink construct melded out from the scroll and Sai jumped onto its back, taking to the air and contemplating his next move.

Harō stared at his opponent, now flying high above him. He turned to the proctor and raised his hand. "I forfeit," he announced, much to the surprise of his teammates. Hayate confirmed the decision, allowing Harō to make his way back to where his temporary team was waiting.

"Why'd you quit?" Naruto asked quietly when he returned, Fū bouncing on the balls of her feet nearby. "You didn't even try any _**Raiton**_ techniques."

"It would have been suspicious if an entire team of no-names from Amegakure passed to the Finals," Harō explained after a moment. "I found it more prudent to give up rather than bring unwanted attention to our team by fighting at my hardest."

"Which was why you left your swords behind," Naruto realized.

"Well, yes and no. These katana," he said, replacing the sheath upon his frame, "were formerly owned by one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."

"Meaning they're easily recognizable," the blonde extrapolated.

"Yes."

"Still doesn't explain why you didn't use any ninjutsu."

Harō shot him a reproachful look. "You used _**Fūton **_and Kazu used _**Doton**_, albeit a rather basic one. You don't think adding a third teammate with a completely separate elemental affinity, let alone the fact that none of them were _**Suiton**_ and we're supposedly from Amegakure – where water affinities are most common – wouldn't raise suspicion?"

"…Fair enough," Naruto admitted. There was a tense period where Naruto wasn't sure what else to say and Harō seemed to be waiting for him to speak. "Er, good job," he offered, and Harō nodded and turned away.

"Whoa," gasped Fū. Naruto's head swiveled quickly away from Harō and towards the arena, where Rock Lee was busy fighting Gaara. The Leaf-nin seemed to be disappearing and reappearing at random intervals, trying to break through the sand that was swirling around Gaara.

"Um, what the hell is going on?" Naruto requested.

Behind him, Kakuzu sighed. "Considering the fact that the Suna-nin is actively looking to kill both you and your teammate, your lack of attention to this battle is severely disappointing."

"I was trying to understand Harō's strategy!" protested Naruto.

Kakuzu waved off the excuse as if it were a particularly annoying fly. "I care little for whatever pretenses you have fabricated." He paused, as if to give Naruto a moment to either feel ashamed or retort; the blonde did neither. "However, based off of what I have witnessed of the fight, Rock Lee has thrived under the tutelage of Maito Gai; his taijutsu form is of an extremely high caliber for a Genin." As Kakuzu spoke, Rock Lee stepped back from Gaara and opened the fifth of the Eight Gates. "Your friend from Hidden Sand, on the other hand," Kakuzu continued sardonically, "appears to have absolutely no taijutsu abilities whatsoever, and in fact has barely moved at all from his original position.

"His control over sand – something which I am sure can be correlated directly to his…host status –" Naruto was sure Kakuzu phrased it to be purposefully ambiguous so as to not give Harō more information than he needed to know "—however, is unparalleled in comparison to anything I have ever seen or heard of. He appears to have some form of automatic defense that seems nigh impregnable and so far has only proven ineffective in the presence of extreme speed." The bounty hunter paused in his analysis as Gaara – skin appearing to crack and break off in flakes of sand as a result of Lee's Reverse Lotus – reached out and grabbed an exhausted Lee by his leg and arm with tendrils of sand, crushing the appendages with vindictive pleasure. "Apparently he also has some sort of armor made of sand which coats his body, and appears to be clinically insane," finished Kakuzu blandly (and rather unnecessarily, Naruto thought irritably; he had clearly seen _that_). The man glanced at his first pupil. "Quite an enemy you have."

Naruto gulped. "Yeah," he murmured. He shot a cursory glance at Fū, whose eyes were wide with poorly disguised fear. _But he's threatened Fū, and for that he needs to be defeated_, thought Naruto, reaffirming his decision to protect his friend at all costs.

The last preliminary match, between a girl named Tenten and one Nara Shikamaru, commenced with little fanfare. Naruto would admit that Tenten seemed to be skilled with a specialty dabbling in (seemingly limitless) mixed weaponry, but the activation of her ultimate technique – _**S**__**ō**__**sh**__**ō**__**ry**__**ū**_, or Twin Rising Dragons – provided so much shadow from the summoned steel projectiles that the Nara was easily able to use his _**Kagemane no Jutsu**_ to trap her. Shikamaru forced her to pick up a kunai and hold it to her throat, drawling lazily that she should forfeit.

She acquiesced despondently, and the proctor announced Shikamaru's victory amidst the cheering of his two teammates. Shikamaru took the moment to try and slink back up to the balcony, but the examiner stopped him part-way. "Will the winners of the preliminary matches please come down to the floor?" he called.

Naruto and Fū exchanged shrugs, but followed the small procession of victors down from the viewing balcony to the arena floor. The blonde only half-listened as the Third Hokage stepped forward and explained that the Finals – the _real_ third round of the Chūnin Exams – would take place in a month, in front of a huge audience in order to properly showcase the talents of the prospective Chūnin.

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki drowned out the unnecessary background noise, instead contemplating the skills that Konoha's Genin had displayed. Most of the major clans had been represented in some way in the preliminaries, and even though their abilities were limited by age, the exams had given Naruto a better idea of what each family was capable of. Books only got one so far, especially considering how rare they were outside of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and Kakuzu had tried to avoid Konoha as much as possible after his failed assassination of the Shodai Hokage, meaning that his information was also limited.

But to see firsthand what the clans specialized in allowed Naruto to better plan how to exact vengeance against the Hidden Leaf…which was so far proving to be impossible. Even assuming years of training _and_ escape from Akatsuki's clutches, one man – no matter how powerful – stood little chance against the force of an entire village; especially when said village had chakra-eating bugs, x-ray vision, body possession and controlling techniques, and the potential to become giants.

_Not to mention all the regular forces not belonging to clans_, the blonde scowled, thinking about Sai and his apparent ability to animate ink. _Guerilla warfare might be the best option_, he decided after a period of thought. _Get stronger, and then use bounty hunting to pick off the stronger ninja one at a time._

_After that, maybe I can find a way to invade the village itself…_

When a box was shoved in his direction, Naruto automatically reached inside and grabbed a slip of paper. Despite his inner musings, the proceedings were boring him, and it reflected clearly in his voice when he was asked to read the number imprinted on the sheet. He had learned some manner of patience over his years training with Kakuzu – _**Shindo Yōshin-Ryū**_ demanded it – but his personality required that there was some means to an end in waiting patiently, some higher reason for it. This…formal _drivel_…was pushing his attention span to its limit with its pointlessness.

He snapped back to attention as the final pairings were decided. Peering intently at the brackets, he saw that Aburame Shino and Sai were fighting the first battle, he was slated to duel Hyūga Neji in the second round, followed by Nara Shikamaru and the Suna-nin Temari, Uchiha Sasuke versus Gaara, and Fū with a bye. Despite what Kakuzu had said about Gaara's abilities, Naruto hoped that the Uchiha would win the fight so that Fū was not forced to fight Gaara in the following round.

The blonde registered Kakuzu's presence behind him, and realized belatedly that they had all been dismissed. "What now, Izo-sensei?"

The tall ninja stared down at him. "We train," he stated.

-l-l-l-

Naruto cursed as Fū slammed her fist through the head of his Earth Clone. The copy turned brown and slumped to the ground as formless mud. Concentration broken, the second clone he was creating also lost its cohesion and fell apart only halfway emerged from the ground.

"Better," Fū offered sympathetically. Naruto merely scowled.

The past two weeks had been spent in a training field far removed from the main activity of Konoha's populace. It allowed Fū and Naruto to train to their full extent – though Kakuzu prohibited Naruto from using either _**Jiongu**_ or summons – while Harō did his own exercises and Kakuzu either researched information or oversaw their progress.

Frustratingly enough, Kakuzu had found it pertinent to interfere in the training and suggest (read: mocked mercilessly until an enraged Naruto accepted) that Fū teach her fellow Jinchūriki the finer points of _**Doton**_ ninjutsu. Despite what should've been a natural affinity to him because of his kinjutsu, Naruto had struggled to learn several of the techniques Fū had decided to teach him. _**Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu**_ – the Earth Clone Technique – had come relatively easily to the blonde (probably, he guessed, because of his previous training with Kisame in the art of creating _**Mizu Bunshins**_), though he found that if his concentration was broken, the replicas would fall apart immediately.

This discovery had led Naruto to being rather irked with his incompatibility with Earth Release ninjutsu. He was a natural at _**Fūton**_, better even than Fū (something even Kakuzu found he could not nitpick about), and even _**Suiton **_had come to him more naturally than _**Doton**_ was…he simply couldn't understand what was wrong.

It wasn't that he couldn't perform the earth-related elemental techniques…just that they were annoyingly difficult to master. The few that were a part of his repertoire were simple, supplementary techniques, not quite on the level of Fū's _**Doton: Doryūheki**_.

_Oh well_, he sighed, _just another thing to practice, along with genjutsu_. It was one of his more inspiring traits, he figured, the desire to push through and eventually overcome any weaknesses in his abilities. When he had originally begun practicing his taijutsu style, he had put aside his immediate thoughts of impatience and rashness – difficult though it had been – in order to understand and truly embrace its teachings. Training with Kisame in kenjutsu and _**Suiton**_ techniques had prompted the same mindset, the drive to learn those skills to the best of his ability; learning to control both _**Fūton **_and _**Jiongu**_ had gone in much the same fashion.

No matter how long it took him, Naruto _would_ figure out how to use damn Earth Release ninjutsu.

Meanwhile, Fū formed a single hand sign and a small breeze kicked up the dirt next to her, transforming into her perfect replica. "Show-off," he muttered.

"What, don't think you're a match for a single _**Chiri Bunshin**_?" Fū mocked in a pale imitation of Kakuzu.

Naruto smirked. _Dragon, Tiger, Hare, __**Suiton: Mizu Rappa!**_ He expelled a stream of water which struck the copy, water-logging the dirt and destroying the fragile consistency of Fū's specialized element. "Hah!" crowed the blonde, "Your Dust Clone can't stand up against a little water, huh?" he taunted. Fū merely made the sign of the Snake and the moist dirt reformed into a solid _**Tsuchi Bunshin**_. "…Crap."

Harō watched as Naruto dodged the double team of Fū and her clone. "I wasn't told much when I was assigned this mission, but shouldn't we come up with some form of strategy for whatever our plan of attack is?" he asked Kakuzu without removing his eyes from the spar. Naruto threw a wind jutsu at Fū, who countered with her own.

Seated cross-legged on the ground, back against a tree and ever-present scroll in his lap, Kakuzu snorted. "If there were some measure of completing such a feat, these Leaf fools have cleverly hidden or disposed of any useful evidence with which to do so." He paused to consider his words as Naruto shoved his tantō through the Earth Clone's head and began gloating. "An oxymoron, to be sure."

"**It seems we chose a good moment to arrive. **Yes, truly fortuitous timing."

Harō whirled on the spot, a noise of surprise escaping his lips and hands reaching for his swords. Sticking out from the trunk of the tree Kakuzu was leaning against, a solid three feet above the man's head, was the Venus Fly Trap encased form of the man who had led Harō to the Akatsuki hideout – Zetsu, if he remembered correctly.

Kakuzu, on the other hand, appeared completely unfazed; in fact, he hadn't even made a motion to recognize the Akatsuki agent's presence. He folded up his scroll and stood up, Zetsu moving out of the way of his six foot frame. Brushing specks of dust from his clothes, he drawled, "Ah, Zetsu, I was wondering if you would perhaps show up…_again_," without ever glancing at the other ninja. "Your presence would suggest that we are not under surveillance, correct?"

"Oh, but Kakuzu-san, it almost sounds as if you're displeased to see us," fretted Zetsu's white side as his black half replied, **"No one is nearby."**

"No, no, I always look forward to your haphazard appearances," Kakuzu deadpanned, turning to face him. "They always bode so well for me and my personal agenda."

"**We are here to provide you with information, not send you to do some task," **snarled Black Zetsu, as his entire head bobbed up and down in what Kakuzu inferred to be the white half nodding in agreement. **"As former associates of Orochimaru, we have intelligence which you might be lacking and thus find useful. **Leader-sama finds it prudent that, since you have undertaken this task for us, you should be well-informed about your target," added White Zetsu. **"If you would rather us leave though, we do have other matters to attend to…"**

"Wait." Zetsu, who had slowly started sinking back into the tree, stopped. Kakuzu resisted the homicidal urge he normally experienced when frustrated, knowing that killing the Akatsuki member (or at least attempting to) would be a bad idea. Zetsu nodded, and Kakuzu called, "Brats, get over here."

"Oi, get me out of this thing you stupid bitch!"

"Not with that mouth I'm not! Say I'm better than you!"

"Never!"

Kakuzu could feel the headache associated with dealing with idiots building. Eyebrow twitching in mixed annoyance and rage, he shifted to see the two wayward Jinchūriki. Naruto was trapped up to his waist in a dark pool of sludge – Fū's Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld (a technique he had taught her) he guessed – hands also submerged beneath the mud and therefore unable to break free. Opposite him, Fū was sitting on the ground, watching her fellow Bijū container struggle to escape her ninjutsu and laughing.

The bounty hunter growled and both of his arms lashed out at his pupils; the seemingly infinite amount of black threads his body possessed allowed Kakuzu to clear the field's distance easily. His right hand grasped the top of Naruto's blonde head, instantly quieting the boy, while the left one latched around Fū's face and conveniently stifled her laughter.

With a thought, Kakuzu willed the tendrils to shorten, returning his arms to the rest of his body. Naruto popped free of the swamp with an audible squelching sound; he flew through the air and landed belly-first on the ground in front of Kakuzu with a groan. Simultaneously, Fū was roughly dragged across the earth and deposited next to her blonde companion; with both Jinchūriki in front of him, Kakuzu released his grip and allowed his arms to fully reattach to his body. "Your interest in my motives implies that you are interested in whatever information we can get," he told them with slight vindication. The former Taki-nin faced Zetsu. "Continue."

Zetsu blinked. "That seemed rather unnecessary, Kakuzu-san. You should be more careful with your students. **I liked it…brutal and effective."** Kakuzu stared at him silently, red-green eyes narrowing marginally. "Oh, the information…

"As you know, Orochimaru is supposed to attack the village sometime during the third section of the Chūnin Exams," explained White Zetsu, suddenly serious. "His plans involve a combined attack from Sunagakure and Otogakure – his own village – backed by the presence of Sabaku no Gaara, the Jinchūriki of the Ichibi."

"I know all of this; Konan informed me of the basics before I took this ridiculous mission," Kakuzu told him impatiently, skating over the fact that he had only recently learned of Oto's existence. "Get to the point."

"**Testy," **observed Black Zetsu, **"but very well. Though we are unsure of the exact circumstances, we know that Orochimaru's plan hinges on releasing Ichibi no Shukaku within Konoha.** We believe that he intends on using the chaos the Bijū's presence will create to assassinate the Third Hokage and fulfill his desire for revenge against the Leaf." (Naruto began muttering lowly about what an interesting idea that was.) "There is also evidence to support that Orochimaru may have his sights set upon Uchiha Sasuke, **assuming his quest to learn all the world's ninjutsu is still a priority.**

"**Little else is known of his actual invasion plans.** He will need to be near the Hokage when Shukaku is released so as to quickly corner him with minimal outside interference. We believe that Orochimaru may be posing as the Fourth Kazekage, **though this is purely speculation. The snake is also somewhat paranoid **– rightfully so – **and** **is bound to have some sort of guard around him at all times."**

Kakuzu waited until he was sure Zetsu was done talking before asking, "What do you know of Orochimaru's abilities?"

White Zetsu grinned. "More than you've found, I'm sure! **Orochimaru was known for dabbling in ninjutsu and kinjutsu, so you should expect him to know a wide variety of both elemental and forbidden techniques. Sasori –" **both Naruto and Fū jumped slightly at this, recognizing the name from their conversation with the Nanabi and Kyūbi **"– said that he often used a sword in combat which he kept hidden in his mouth **within a snake," added White Zetsu cheekily. "His contract with the snakes provided him with inspiration for a unique taijutsu style as well as several body modification techniques…and summoning, of course."

Kakuzu raised an eyebrow. "Body modification techniques?"

"**Orochimaru has an extremely flexible body, allowing him to twist unnaturally and extend certain body features at his whim. **Kinda like you!" White Zetsu offered overenthusiastically. The former Taki-nin scowled. "**Also, he can recover from any injury and escape from many attacks using an enhanced form of the **_**Kawarimi**_**, like a serpent shedding its skin**_**.**_ We're not exactly sure of the details, but it apparently uses a larger amount of chakra than normal. **The rest is up to you.** Good luck!"

Zetsu disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving a silent training field behind. Kakuzu mulled over the basics of what he had just been told. _Ninjutsu, kinjutsu, kenjutsu, a Summoning Contract, snake-like taijutsu, flexibility, and a specialized Replacement Technique…you appear to be a jack-of-all-trades, Orochimaru. I look forward to this fight._

The S-Class ninja looked down, spying Naruto, Fū, and Harō looking at him with a variety of expressions: apathy, minor concern, and curiosity predominant. "Fū, Harō, you have two weeks to practice and perfect any techniques you wish to work on," he ordered. Both nodded and immediately moved to the center of the field and began sparring. "Naruto," he continued in the same authoritative voice; the blonde flinched slightly in surprise at the use of his name but did little else. "You will learn one of my most useful ninjutsu, a move which may come in handy against the Hyūga you are supposed to fight. Even if it does not, its practical uses are relatively limitless and will serve you well in the future. Now come, we have much work ahead of us."

Naruto followed his teacher into the nearby copse of trees, a small grin on his face. Learning from Kakuzu – while guaranteed to be immensely painful – had proven to be anything but useless, and the intensity he felt radiating from the older ninja's very being implied that this lesson was to be another valuable one.

For the next two weeks, Kakuzu drilled the trio of undercover Genin relentlessly. By the end of the fortnight, all of them felt they were ready for whatever the Chūnin Exams would throw at them.

If they only knew…

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: **I tried to keep the Preliminaries relatively similar to canon, if condensed, because it doesn't have that much of an impact on the story; only Naruto's views on the matches really matter. I also tried to address some concerns expressed by reviewers in the previous chapter, and further flesh out several of the character quirks/relationships/thought processes that - as it was pointed out to me by a very helpful constructive critique - I have been lacking in. Had to edit this thing _twice_ to finally be satisfied with it. And now every time I write Zetsu, I picture him arguing in my head. Really creepy.

MORE IMPORTANTLY: I appreciate the attention this story gets, I really do, and every review prompting me to "Update soon!" makes me feel amazing, because the support that provides is awesome. But several people have been sending me PMs asking when the next chapter will be out. As I mention on my profile and in previous chapters, I don't promise an update schedule because I'm balancing 2 long stories amidst school and work, and real life comes first; I realize that I don't update as frequently as other people, and it frustrates me too. But while I have been patient with these PMs - and have no desire to disable the function in case other people want to tell me something useful - I am putting my foot down. IF YOU SEND ME A PM ASKING ABOUT THE STATUS OF THE NEXT CHAPTER, I **WILL NOT RESPOND**. Sorry to sound like a douche, but I'm very tired of giving the same answer every time.

That said, please let me know how you think I did in a review!


	10. Chaos

**Disclaimer:**I don't own _Naruto._

**Brief Note:** I'd like to address a point that's been brought up several times in reviews really quick. It's been pointed out that Naruto is weaker than Fū on multiple occasions, and though I tried to counter that in the previous chapter, evidently I failed. I blame myself, because despite everything, I'm still an amateur writer (this is my first fanfic) and thus miss/change things as I write, and would like to assert that this is not the case. I'm hoping that this chapter explains exactly why this is so, and as you read this please keep in mind that, for the most part, everything so far has been Naruto's opinion on himself (meaning most of the inner dialogue is Naruto's own thoughts on his abilities), so things are skewed to his perspective. It doesn't necessarily mean that he's right.

And as to being surprised by Dosu (and the other two Sound ninja) in the Forest of Death in Chapter 8 even though Naruto's stronger than them…well, here's a list of higher-ranked ninja taken by surprise by lower-ranked ninja in the manga (merely off the top of my head): Kakuzu being Raikiri'd by Kakashi (sorry, but without Shikamaru tricking Hidan, Kakashi would've died), Lee being beaten by Dosu/Zaku, Hidan being stabbed by Kotetsu and Izumo (with help from Shikamaru), and my personal favorite, KONOHAMARU USING RASENGAN ON PEIN. Genin versus Akatsuki's faux-leader…hard to get more disparity than that. Anyway, here's to hoping you enjoy this latest installment of The Cost of Living.

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu stared down at his three students as they all stood on the edge of the tree line, watching people stream through the giant doors into Konoha's central arena. It was the day of the third round of the Chūnin Exams, and Naruto and Fū were expected to be on the battlefield within the next 15 minutes. There was silence among the quartet as all the spectators – foreign dignitaries, their guards, civilians, and ninja of various rank from different countries – filed to their seats; despite the time constraint, all three Genin were waiting for the bounty hunter to inevitably break the silence.

"You all know your roles?" he finally asked, though they all knew that it was a statement and not a question; each of them nodded. "Good. Then it is time to take your positions. We will meet up at the first opportunity," he directed at Naruto and Fū.

"Got it," confirmed Naruto. Kakuzu's gaze lingered on him for an extra moment – intense green eyes boring holes into his student – before he turned around and led Harō towards the entrance. The cobalt-haired boy whispered a hasty "Good luck," as he passed, but Naruto was too focused on his teacher's last expression to respond. _'Screw this up and it will be the last thing you do,' _threatened those eyes.

_I won't_, Naruto promised. Fū nudged him gently, prodding him into motion. The touch was enough to startle the blonde from his rumination, and the two Jinchūriki set off for the competitors' entrance. Naruto thought that perhaps there had been some other message in Kakuzu's expression – _pride_ he almost called it, if Kakuzu had ever shown any pride in the blonde's accomplishments – but decided to the let the gesture go in favor of focusing on the task ahead.

It wasn't necessary for him to win of course (because promotions meant little to rogue ninja), but the thrill of victory – the idea of proving himself to Kakuzu (and to a lesser extent, to Harō and to Fū) – definitely gave him motivation to do his best in the upcoming fight. Winning against Neji was practically a necessity for his ego.

The battlefield, Naruto realized upon entering, was _huge_. Walls towering hundreds of feet high enclosed the entire arena, and several step-laddered grandstands overlooked the ground from high above. Trees rimmed the inside of the arena, providing cover and protection in the otherwise barren field. Standing in the center of the grass and dirt area were all the other contestants, save Uchiha Sasuke. Fū and Naruto approached the proctor – a plain man wearing a bandana _hitae-ate_ backwards and with a long senbon gripped between his teeth – and took their places next to Nara Shikamaru.

If Naruto stood at a slight enough angle that he shielded Fū from Gaara's vision, neither Jinchūriki commented on it.

After another 10 minutes had passed, the Konoha Jōnin serving as their proctor cleared his throat. "My name is Shiranui Genma, and I'll be presiding over this final round of the Chūnin Exams. This," he said, pulling out a piece of paper which displayed the bracket matches, "shows the match-ups for the competition. Are there any questions?" When he was greeted with silence, Genma raised his voice and announced loudly, "We will now begin the third round of the Chūnin Exams. Will Aburame Shino and Sai please remain on the battlefield? Everyone else is free to go up to the viewing balcony in the meantime," he told the Genin in a normal voice.

The other competitors moved towards the stairwell and took the steps. They emerged in a small, open viewing balcony high upon one of the stadium walls, closed off by a waist-high railing. The two Suna-nin took position in one corner, followed by the Konoha-nin and then Naruto and Fū on the other side. Far below, the figures that were Shino and Sai stood about 100 feet apart, Genma placed in-between them.

At the senbon-chewing Jōnin's signal, Sai immediately moved away, creating more distance between himself and Shino. The Aburame, he knew, were a clan devoted almost completely to using the bugs within their bodies as their primary attack mechanism. Strategically, putting more space between the two was a less than ideal move, allowing the bug-nin to take advantage of the distance with his long-range attacks.

Except that Sai was also a long distance fighter, with a healthy background in swordsmanship and physical combat that Shino probably didn't have. As far as the fight's outcome, Sai would have no problem emerging victorious…after thoroughly testing his opponent's skill, of course.

Originally, the ink-user had been mildly surprised that he was even still participating in the Chūnin Exams. After the preliminaries, he had met with Danzō-sama and explained Uchiha Sasuke's progress and movements in detail, per his mission parameters. When he had inquired how to forfeit the final round of the exams without raising suspicion, Danzō-sama had instead told him to compete.

The reason, once Sai had time to actually digest the logic, was really quite simple. ROOT was – for all intents and purposes – a stagnant, defunct organization. There was only so much growth a group could go through while remaining underground, and recruiting opportunities needed to be taken when they presented themselves.

It was a happy coincidence that Sai's opponent was Aburame Shino.

ROOT's teachings embraced the idea that emotions were the path to destruction. By forfeiting one's feelings, no internal conflicts would get in the way of completing a mission. As a clan, the Aburame adhered to a very similar set of guidelines, indulging their faith within the realms of logic and clear-mindedness. The fact that they were renowned, if not slightly feared, as a powerful clan – and had even overwhelmed their rivals, the bee-using Kamizuru clan of Iwagakure – lent credit to the effectiveness of their creed.

Apparently there was enough similarity to ROOT's philosophy to pique Danzō-sama's interest in the clan heir. Though ROOT trained children from a young age in order to effectively quash their emotions, its leader obviously saw potential in bringing older Aburame into their fold.

Hence Sai's new mission: to test the capabilities of the Aburame heir and reveal the extent of his capacity. It was a mission he would complete to the best of his abilities.

To win, he would eventually have to move to close combat range. In the meantime, he would test the Aburame's skill with his _kikaichū_ and long-range tactics. Sai pulled out the scroll he used in conjunction with his ninjutsu and unraveled the first six inches. "_**Chōjū Giga**_," he intoned, scribbling across the parchment with his brush, "Super Beasts Imitation Picture." A bird emerged from the scroll, spread its 6-foot wingspan, and allowed its creator to jump aboard as it took flight.

The aviary creature wasn't the largest Sai could produce, but its purpose wasn't battle; it merely needed to provide Shino a larger, more impressive target than Sai himself to expose his talent. _Now,_ thought the ROOT agent, gazing with emotionless eyes at his opponent from above, _what will you do?_

-l-l-l-

From his vantage point in the viewing balcony, Naruto watched with detached curiosity as Aburame Shino launched his clan's parasitic insects at Sai. To Naruto, who had been brought up by Kakuzu to recognize some of the subtleties other ninja displayed in battle (to simplify killing targets when bounty hunting), it was apparent that the Uchiha look-alike was holding back. The guy's name practically screamed 'alias' as it was.

The main question he couldn't answer was _why_. Assuming that Sai was a high-ranking operative posing as a Genin, participating in the Chūnin Exams past the point where it was a team exercise was pointless. It was practically the same situation Harō had found himself in during the Preliminaries. There was no logical reason to continue fighting that Naruto could come up with.

Down below, a swarm of _kikaichū _shot up from the ground and surrounded Sai, nearly spearing his bird.

Not that their actions mattered too much, Naruto decided. What the higher-ups of the Hidden Leaf did with their own ninja had little effect on his team's mission. He had his own issues to deal with.

Kakuzu's sudden, intense focus on his training, for instance.

The bounty hunter, for how much he had taken Naruto under his wing, had never really "trained" Naruto. At least, not with the same intensity or focus as he had the past two weeks. When Naruto was younger, Kakuzu had taken a more active role in his learning; now that he was older, Naruto chalked that earlier time up to the fact that he had been completely inept in the ways of the ninja, and thus was a liability. Building up a 5-year-old from scratch often required patience and a firm, guiding hand.

Unfortunately, Kakuzu was slightly lacking in both those areas.

Naruto didn't exactly blame the rogue Taki-nin. From what little he knew of Kakuzu's past – and that was essentially limited to the one outburst the man had had right before Naruto had gotten _**Jiongu**_ – those personality traits (or lack thereof) were to be expected. He guessed that his mentor had lived by himself for at least 60 years, brooding in a miserly, narcissistic cycle for the entirety of that time. It was to be expected that Kakuzu had no patience for other people.

Considering that, Naruto was amazed that he had escaped with as few scars (both physical and psychological) that he had.

Still, Naruto could remember the phases of Kakuzu's training regime and how the nukenin had filtered himself from each step. At 8-years-old, Kakuzu had taught him the ways of the bounty hunter and, for the most part, left the boy to his own devices with his advancement, trusting that he would teach himself the necessities. Before that time, Naruto had swapped between learning what was deemed "normal" topics such as math, history, and science from Ryo, and being taught ninja basics – taijutsu forms, chakra theory, secrets of the Hidden Villages – from Kakuzu. It was the longest amount of consecutive time the Jinchūriki could remember actually _learning _from the man, and he had been unrelenting with the child's education. Stupidity and ignorance were traits that Kakuzu refused to accept in his pupil.

Naruto scoffed. Even when Kakuzu tutored him in the necessities, he still half-assed it by pawning him off on another person half the time. _Time is money,_ he quoted snidely, the voice again sounding suspiciously like Kakuzu. _…I can't even get away from him in my own head._ He supposed it was the mark of a good teacher that the lesson stuck with him after all this time, though.

Sai threw a kick at Shino's torso, then immediately backed away as the Aburame burst into a cloud of angry _kikai_.

Coinciding with the mercenary lessons was a long stint of elemental training. Kakuzu had informed him of the basics of _**Fūton**_ chakra and ordered him to practice. The man had then disappeared for several months, returned for a week to see the blonde's progress with cutting a leaf, and then left again. Following his next return, Kakuzu oversaw Naruto's next four months of training in several basic Wind Release techniques and extra physical conditioning (including the infrequent spar). Instead of advising his pupil, the former Taki-nin had stood by silently and forced the blonde to go through the motions of practicing his ninjutsu, only giving input when he deemed it necessary. Naruto had been expected to learn it all by himself through sheer trial and error.

_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_ and _**Jiongu**_ had both gone the same way, with Kakuzu instructing him in how to perform the hand seals or what the benefits of each technique was, but nothing beyond that. Sword training hadn't even been performed under Kakuzu's watch – _yet another case of neglect,_ Naruto thought cynically, _to get away from me for a year…to focus on Fū _– and all of the _**Suiton**_ techniques he had learned had also been accomplished under Kisame's tutelage. With Kakuzu being a self-proclaimed _**Suiton**_ expert (since Naruto had so far only seen minimal evidence of his prowess), it was slightly disappointing to have not learned anything from him.

But this most recent training…it was completely different from the other experiences.

Kakuzu had spent the entire two weeks drilling Naruto – teaching the theory, guiding the elemental manipulation, sparring with him, _correcting_ and _teaching _him – until he could perform to the man's satisfaction one of his signature techniques almost instinctively. Even more impressive, the bounty hunter never once mentioned Fū or insulted Naruto. With respect to his usual attitude, Kakuzu's strange behavior was enough to put the blonde on edge.

Three ink lions surrounded Shino, who sent his insects out to defend himself.

Naruto admitted that he was not the smartest person in the world. But despite not being gifted with Kakuzu's level of analytical intelligence, the blonde _was_ perceptive. After catching all the glares and disgusted looks of Konoha's citizens when he was younger, it wasn't overly surprising that he developed such a talent; under Kakuzu's mercenary teachings, the aptitude for it flourished. As such, he was normally able to read and comprehend people – actions, body language, facial expressions – after a short amount of observation. Kakuzu, of course, was a bit of an exception, with his face almost completely covered, his rigid stance, and his cool, impersonal demeanor. Even then, the Jinchūriki was able to understand some quirks of the older ninja due to the sheer amount of time spent with him.

Based on the complete change in training methodology, Naruto could only guess that Kakuzu was nervous about the upcoming mission. Naturally he had no proof, especially considering that Kakuzu would never admit to such a thing, but it was a good theory.

Kakuzu often embarked on missions to hunt higher level ninja. Naruto figured it was some sort of quirk that his teacher had, where he forced himself to target stronger enemies. Of course, it also could've been that their heads were worth more, but somehow the blonde felt that there was a deeper reason than that.

His assumption was that Kakuzu got some sort of thrill from chasing down high ranking ninja, as if asserting his own power and dominance in the process. If Naruto was more deeply versed in psychology, he probably could've effectively traced the issue back to Kakuzu's loss to the Shodai Hokage and his lingering desire to prove himself to a village he had long since abandoned. As it was, he only had guesses to go off of.

Suggesting such a blasphemous idea was akin to signing his own death warrant though, so Naruto (understandably) didn't bring it up. It didn't prevent him from believing he was right on some level though.

So Kakuzu searched out powerful opponents to fight, which led to him developing a reputation among the underworld and thus being searched out by Akatsuki. That in turn led to the mission to kill Orochimaru. And while Orochimaru was strong, he was also a different caliber of strong than Kakuzu usually dealt with. Even though he chased after ninja capable in their own right, Kakuzu had enough confidence in his own abilities to leave those battles (mostly) unscathed, and always alive.

But Orochimaru was an experienced ninja who had been recruited to join Akatsuki, and then lived through the perils of his own defection followed by years of being searched for by practically the entire continent. Compiling that information with everything Zetsu had told them made the Snake Sannin out to be a very fearful man. So the only conclusion Naruto was able to arrive at was that the upcoming fight had Kakuzu questioning his own mortality. With the strength of _**Jiongu**_ flooding his body, Naruto wasn't entirely sure how Kakuzu could be beaten, but he supposed that if all of Kakuzu's hearts were destroyed – if Orochimaru killed him _five times_ – then he would die.

If Naruto's theory was right, and Kakuzu was truly apprehensive about facing Orochimaru, then the Snake Sannin was a formidable opponent indeed.

The only hitch that Naruto could see in his hunch was that Kakuzu had _never_ before exhibited any sign of fear. Of course, as far as he knew, the man had also never faced an opponent of Orochimaru's caliber before. However, if the case truly was that Kakuzu was questioning his ability to win, then it made sense that he would want the boy he had put years of his time into, the sole successor of his prized kinjutsu, to carry on whatever semblance of a legacy he had, including his ninjutsu. That's what families did, anyway.

_I wonder if Kakuzu considers us family,_ Naruto pondered. The immediate answer was 'no', but the blonde found it hard to believe that two people (three, if Fū was included) could spend so much time together and not think of each other as family members – even for someone as callous and detached as Kakuzu.

Fū nudged Naruto in the side. "Battle's over. Looks like you'll be up in a minute."

The other Jinchūriki looked down. There were several puddles of black goo on the ground, and all of them appeared to be writhing. It took the blonde a couple of seconds to realize that the puddles were Sai's ink, which had obtained a thick, glue-like consistency and trapped Shino's _kikai_, which were desperately trying to escape. Meanwhile, Sai had moved in for the finishing blow, delivering several swift strikes before holding his blade at Shino's throat. There was silence for a moment until the Aburame intoned, "I surrender."

"The winner of this match is Sai," announced Genma. Said ninja formed a hand seal, and the ink surrounding Shino's bugs disappeared. The insects immediately flew into the sleeves of their master's cloak. There was a smattering of applause from the audience with the match's conclusion, and Genma continued, "If both combatants will leave the arena, the next match will be between Hyūga Neji and Shinobu. Please report to the arena."

"Good luck," Fū whispered as Naruto turned to the stairs. Neji was already at the doorway.

"Thanks," he replied. He felt the urge to say something else, but he didn't know what, so he simply nodded and followed his opponent down the steps.

They took their places across from each other on the battlefield. Genma looked between the two of them, and after asking if they were ready, told them to begin. For a long moment, Naruto wasn't sure what to expect. Neji, again, seemed to stand stolidly in the same position, arms crossed and expression stern. "You seem to want to say something," Naruto prompted at length.

"Give up."

"Excuse me?"

"Forfeit this match," Neji reiterated coldly, "or I will be forced to beat you into submission."

"…You have some sort of superiority complex, don't you?"

"You're an orphan from the Hidden Rain, a clan-less nobody from an unknown village," continued the Hyūga, ignoring the barb. "I am a prodigy from the Hyūga clan, the most powerful family within the Hidden Leaf. Fate has decreed that you will lose to me this day. Either forfeit now or face the might of the Hyūga."

"Good _lord_, you talk a lot," Naruto griped dramatically. "Is this the power of the Hyūga clan? To talk people into submission? I mean, it must be effective, since that other Hyūga bowed out after your little spiel last time." Naruto cupped his chin with a hand, as if in deep thought; Neji's face was flushing in anger. "Hmm, considering that, I guess you are pretty strong –"

"You dare disrespect the power of the Hyūga?" seethed Neji. "You're a backwater ninja who could never compare to the greatness of my clan! I'll show you –!" A gust of wind blew past Neji, ruffling the long ponytail his hair was in.

Naruto moved his hands to his side from where they had been previously clapped together. While the _**Fūton: Reppūshō **_was not exactly an attacking move – and in fact was weaker when expelled from the mouth, as he had just done, than pushed with his hands – it did provide an excellent distraction. "Hm," he pondered, looking at his hands as if impressed with his ninjutsu expertise, "funny. It appears as if my weakest technique…just stopped your strongest technique." The blonde dug his pinky finger into his ear, taking it out and inspecting it as one might an interesting curio. "I guess I have nothing to fear."

In the stands, Harō blinked and looked up at Kakuzu. "Shinobu seems to be playing with his food," he quipped.

"Yes," agreed the bounty hunter, "a bad habit he seems to have acquired from me."

Hyūga Neji settled into a traditional _**Jūken **_stance. "Have it your way. But fate will see that you lose today."

"You think that you'll win because of your belief in fate," returned Naruto, moving into the beginning position of _**Shindo Yōshin-Ryū**_, "but we believe in different things. The only thing I put my faith in," he continued, closing the distance between them at a quick pace, "is _money_."

Harō raised an eyebrow in mild disbelief of what his teammate just said. Kakuzu grinned wickedly behind the breathing apparatus. "But he learns the important lessons as well." _Let us see what you are capable of…Naruto._

Naruto got within striking range and threw his right fist forward. Neji bent his knees slightly and slid forward, using his left hand to shove the blonde's punch off-course and driving his other hand forward. Two fingers drove a sharp spike of chakra into Naruto's elbow. The undercover Ame-nin jumped away, shaking his right arm.

He stared at the limb as a tingling sensation emanated from the area Neji struck. _Interesting._ The preliminary exchange was intended to flesh out what exactly the Hyūga's Gentle Fist taijutsu style did.

"Hn," snorted Neji, "this is the extent of what you can do, after all that talk? I haven't even activated my Byakugan yet, and now your ability to push chakra through that arm has been compromised. Give up."

Apparently Neji didn't see the brilliance of Naruto's strategy. However effective _**Jūken**_ was supposed to be, Naruto guessed there was a disparity with how it worked on him; the tingling in his arm wasn't as bad as he guessed it should be, and when he tried manipulating the air around his hand, it was slightly less responsive than he was used to. He looked up at Neji and readied himself again. _Okay, one more experiment…_

The Jinchūriki charged for the second time, and the Hyūga smirked and shook his head. "Such a pointless exercise." He waited until the younger boy was within range before jabbing out with his fingers, aiming for the other arm this time. Unlike the previous bout, Naruto blocked, throwing up his left forearm vertically inside Neji's stance and sending the attack wide. The Hyūga's other arm came forward and speared toward Naruto's chest. He twisted his entire body 90 degrees, narrowly avoiding the strike and bringing his left arm around to plant it in Neji's stomach.

Neji turned with the blow, letting his body contort around the limb. Using his momentum, he continued the spin, grabbing the blonde's outstretched arm with one hand and preparing to close several of the chakra points in his opponent's left arm. _Now!_ Naruto thought as he focused upon activating the technique.

Three pokes of Neji's fingers along his arm was all Naruto allowed before he wrenched away, putting enough space between them that Neji couldn't attack. The long-haired Genin was already making snide observations about Naruto's cowardice, but the blonde ignored him in favor of analyzing the results of his test.

In comparison to the previous Gentle Fist strike, the fuzzy feeling in his arm was only a fraction as strong. If he was forced to call it anything, the attack was almost like a fly buzzing around his head – it was annoying, yes, but not really harmful to him. He stared at his arm and scowled. _I hate it when Kakuzu's right…_

When their training had begun, Kakuzu made sure to preface it with his assumptions and limited knowledge of the Hyūga's Gentle Fist taijutsu. The chakra network was the main target of the style; it was disrupted, he guessed, by the Hyūga inserting their own chakra into the pathway of whoever their opponent was. If this was indeed the case, Kakuzu asserted that it should already be less effective against someone like Naruto, whose entire body crawled with the black threads of _**Jiongu**_. It wasn't that the kinjutsu eliminated or even overrode his chakra network; it merely provided an invisible layer of protection which should interfere with the insertion of foreign chakra.

Strangely enough, it never helped block against genjutsu, though he thought that may be because the illusions targeted specific applications of the chakra sensory network, places the kinjutsu really didn't inhabit (the brain, specifically).

Provided that wasn't enough – and if the tingling in his right elbow was any indication, it wasn't – he had Kakuzu's ace-in-the-hole to physical attacks: _**Doton: Domu**_; Earth Release: Earth Spear. The bounty hunter had hypothesized that the protective quality of the skin hardening technique would give Naruto the extra boost needed to overcome the negative effects of Neji's chakra. Judging by how much less the last attack was affecting him, the defensive ninjutsu had done the trick.

While grateful, Naruto still disliked how often his teacher was proven correct. _But now that I know it works, it's time to get serious._ Employing a strategy Kakuzu created, he silently activated the technique he had been working on with Fū.

His two week training period with Kakuzu had involved more than just learning the Earth Spear technique. The bounty hunter had prepared him well enough that he could activate the defensive ninjutsu to cover certain areas of his body at will, though his lack of affinity for _**Doton**_ moves meant that a rushed full-body covering was essentially out of the question (at his current level, anyway). After grasping the skill necessary to utilize the technique, Kakuzu had moved on to Naruto's other Earth Release skill set, minimal though it was. That focus led to the creation of the combo Naruto was currently employing.

In practical combat, his speed with executing it was rather abysmal, but with no interference forthcoming from Neji, it almost seemed embarrassingly simple to _**Kawarimi**_ himself with the _**Tsuchi Bunshin**_ he had created underground.

Safely hidden ten feet below the surface of the earth, Naruto could launch an offensive on Neji with his clone while staying on the defensive; best of all, with no way for the Hyūga to get to him, he didn't have to worry about the Earth Clone falling apart. Above ground, said duplicate began to attack Neji, engaging in an intricate dance of graceful taijutsu styles. While that occurred, Naruto moved through the earth by using _**Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu**_, stealthily drawing closer to his opponent. With no fear of interruption, the blonde focused on creating a second Earth Clone behind Neji, all the while preparing his own position for a final blow.

As the real Naruto moved closer, Neji ducked a high punch from the Naruto he was fighting. He scowled as his opponent shifted away from his retaliating palm-strike, blocking his follow-up with the opposite arm. Something was wrong…the Rain Genin was avoiding every move he performed with a fluidity he had barely displayed in their previous two interactions.

Neji's instincts warned him of an incoming threat, and he dodged left as a fist transited through his previous spot. _A clone?_ he wondered. The two Narutos double-teamed him, thoroughly testing Neji's abilities to avoid two sets of punches, swipes, and kicks. _They do well at coordinating their assault. It appears as if I need to get serious. Byakugan!_ His vision expanded and inverted, turning the world into a grayscale picture he could see from all angles. Blue chakra ran through both of his opponents, though neither was in system of any chakra network he knew of.

_They're both clones?_ His all-seeing eyes focused upon an anomaly below him, the chakra network of a human: Shinobu. _Ah…a surprise assault from underground. Pity it won't work against the Byakugan._

Neji allowed the two clones to maneuver him where they wanted, noting that his opponent's position was almost directly underneath him; there was no point in countering the blows when it was only a matter of time before the Ame-nin launched his "ambush". His eyes narrowed marginally as the hooded Genin began to rise to the surface. _It's time._

The clone in front of him adjusted his hips and kicked with his left leg, while the one behind him chopped sideways at his neck. Neji slid his stance wide and pivoted, simultaneously catching the ankle of the first with one hand and blocking the wrist of the second with the other. Then, Naruto popped up from the earth, punch heading straight for Neji's jaw.

Naruto felt his fist connect with something solid, and he smirked. It took a second for him to realize that whatever he had just punched wasn't soft, like Neji's flesh should've been, before the long-haired boy called, "_**Kaiten!**_" and began spinning.

A rotating hemisphere of chakra formed around the Hyūga's body, blasting Naruto backwards across the dirt. Both _**Tsuchi Bunshins**_ dissolved into mud, which was flung away by the motion of the _**Kaiten**_. Naruto rubbed his head from where he sat on the ground as Neji slowed to a stop. "My eyes see everything," he told Naruto.

The blonde rose to his feet and dusted off the borrowed Rain ninja clothes. "Aww, you had to activate your little _kekkei genkai_ to beat a backwater ninja like me. I think that says more about your misguided presumptions than anything else." When Neji didn't reply to his jibes, Naruto grinned. "Finally found a way to shut you up, did I?"

The Hyūga merely shook his head, though when he spoke his voice was a tad unsteady. "Your body is…_infested_ with innumerable snake-like objects," he said slowly, as if testing the words. Naruto's face went blank, the idea that the Byakugan could identify _**Jiongu**_ never occurring to him until that moment. Tone resuming its normal arrogance, Neji continued, "Having not yet seen your chakra network clearly, I was merely surprised. But it doesn't really matter what sort of ability you possess, because a failure will always be a failure, and you will lose. It has already been decided."

"I'll show you _exactly_ what I can do with my ability," retorted Naruto.

"Unlikely," Neji snorted, bending his knees and settling into an unusual stance. "You're now within my field of divination."

"I'm wha –"

"_**Hakke Rokujūyon Shō**_; Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms." And then he moved. "Two palms!" Naruto barely managed to block both strikes. "Four palms!" He ducked the strike targeting his shoulder, but the next one jabbed down at his collarbone.

Fire seemed to erupt from the area where Neji poked him, and Naruto gasped in surprise at the feeling. Whatever Neji was currently doing, it was much more effective than the previous hits had been. _I can't block all his blows,_ Naruto realized as the Hyūga called out, "Eight palms!" _Only got one chance…_ He silently willed _**Doton: Domu**_ into effect, spurring it to try and cover his entire body even though it had never worked before.

Neji's fingers hit his elbow, forearm, chest, and thigh, and the hardening technique halted; it covered one bicep, part of the opposite shoulder, and from Naruto's neck down to his heart.

"Sixteen palms! Thirty-two palms! Sixty-four palms!" The final blow was an open-handed palm to his hara, and Naruto tumbled end-over-end for almost 100 feet. Neji deactivated his Byakugan. "I used a bit more chakra than I normally would because of your unique body makeup, but the result is as I predicted. You have lost."

"Not…yet," groaned Naruto, staggering to stand. If there was one thing Naruto got from Kakuzu, it was (snide) comments about his perseverance. He tried molding some chakra, but a burning sensation built in his arm until he felt that it might explode. _Can't use chakra…but it's not like I need it,_ he thought, staring at his arm. More specifically, at the area where two ringed bands were etched into his skin as permanent reminders of what he held. _And if there's another thing Kakuzu gave me…it was __**Jiongu**__…_

The kinjutsu was currently wrestling for control of the blonde's body, fighting to take over to defend its user. _Not yet, _he placated, willing the threads to remain in his body. They stilled upon his command, relinquishing what he sensed was temporary control back to him. Naruto gave a mental sigh of relief before refocusing his attention upon Neji. For whatever reason, _**Jiongu**_ – at least while connected to his body in some form – required no chakra to use. It was almost ironic, considering the chakra boost it gave by assimilating other people's hearts.

"You think you can beat me in your condition?" Neji scoffed. The veins around his eyes bulged as his Byakugan reactivated. "Once a fool, always a fool."

Naruto took that as an invitation to attack. He moved forward (though a good portion of his earlier grace was lacking), pulling a handful of shuriken from his weapons pouch and hurling them at Neji. The boy dodged, and Naruto, a mere ten feet away, yanked on the wires attached to the throwing stars. They reversed direction, causing Neji to sigh. "Your rudimentary parlor tricks cannot win you this fight." He began to turn on the spot to start a _**Kaiten**_, but stopped.

Hyūga Neji found himself being prevented from using his absolute defense. Black tendrils were twined about both wrists, two for each joint, and they were connected to dozens more, all disappearing into the long sleeves of his opponent. "What is this?"

"A ploy," Naruto mentioned, gesturing to the shuriken-wire setup currently lying forgotten on the ground, "to draw the majority of your attention away from me. So I could use my supposed failure of an ability to win this match." He laced his fingers together in the sign of the Snake. "_**Jiongu: **__**Ketsugō Fōmu**__**,**_" he hissed. The remaining threads leapt into action, tying themselves more tightly around Neji's wrists, ankles, and waist.

-l-l-l-

"That fool," groused Kakuzu, "does he not realize that Takigakure is allied with the Leaf? They could have representatives here, people who could recognize _**Jiongu**_."

"It's impressive though, isn't it Izo-sensei?" inquired Harō. "I mean, what he's doing with those threads…"

"No," countered Kakuzu, "he is still learning. There are many secrets to the technique that he has yet to tap into. What he is doing is befitting of an amateur, not to mention dangerous for our mission."

Harō considered what the man was saying. "…Do you really believe that?"

_Whether I do or not is none of your concern._ "Do you see the seal he is making?" Harō nodded. "It is completely unnecessary. He has some trouble with asserting his will over the threads at all times, so he created focusing applications utilizing the 12 hand seals in order to better control their actions during what he deems 'stressful situations'." Kakuzu snorted. "The one he is currently using is meant to bind. If he would simply buckle down and train himself properly, such a ridiculous concentration method would be unnecessary."

The nukenin lapsed again into silence. Harō considered asking why Kakuzu didn't teach the secrets of the kinjutsu to Naruto himself, but decided that the man probably had his own reasons to not do so (though he couldn't even begin to fathom what they were).

He could only hope that, in spite of Naruto's potential blunder, their plan still went off without a hitch.

-l-l-l-

Meanwhile, Arakawa Daisuke stared at the fight between Hyūga Neji of Konoha and Shinobu of Ame and scowled. If that boy truly was from the Hidden Rain, then Daisuke would renounce his position as an Elder of Takigakure.

One of his bodyguards – Amano Jirō, _**Suiton**_ expert of the _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_ – leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Daisuke-sama, that's –"

"I know," he muttered. The existence of _**Jiongu**_ was a well-kept secret in Takigakure, known only to the Village Elders and the most elite ninja. After the bodies of the Village Elders had been found almost 70 years ago with gaping holes in their chests, the location of the kinjutsu had been checked. At the time, no one knew how it had been found, just that its disappearance was a bad omen. From that day forward, the knowledge that Earth Grudge Fear was no longer in Taki's possession was known only to the higher-ups in Hidden Waterfall – as was the assumption that it was Kakuzu who had stolen it.

The simple idea that Kakuzu had endowed the ability upon another person – let alone the fact that the former Taki-nin was still _alive_ – made Daisuke's blood boil. "After the exams, we confront the child," he informed Jirō quietly. "I want to find out everything he knows about _that man_." Jirō nodded and straightened to continue observing the match.

Daisuke kept his own weathered eye upon the boy in the arena. If he could lead them to Kakuzu, then Takigakure could reclaim its honor…and Daisuke could get vengeance for the tragedy levied upon his family so long ago. His grandfather's corpse haunted his vision all too frequently.

_You shall pay for your crimes, Kakuzu. Just you wait._

-l-l-l-

Naruto stared at Neji, currently suspended less than a foot off the ground by the unrelenting grip of _**Jiongu**_'s tendrils. "You know," Naruto began conversationally, "judging by our current positions, I would think that you'd be having second thoughts about that whole fate thing. Seeing as how I've pretty much won…"

"You haven't won yet, loser!" spat Neji.

"Oh?" He switched his hands from the Snake to the Tiger. "_**Jiongu: Kantsū F**__**ōmu**__**.**_" The threads coiled a little tighter to free half a dozen ends. The six tendrils straightened into sharp spears, stabbing into Neji's biceps, sides, and legs, pinning him into the ground. He cried out as blood seeped into the bandages around his right leg. Naruto continued idly, "The Piercing Form. I think that living in this safe, peaceful village has given you a false sense of just how strong you are.

"Belief in fate is a dumb notion, considering that you have no idea what exactly the rest of the world has in store for you. I think that I managed to prove that simply by defeating you here. As someone who has had more than one surprise thrown at me over my lifetime, I can guarantee that things aren't determined by something as fickle as fate. Find another dogma to bow down to."

"This match is over," said Genma. "The winner is Shinobu of Amegakure. Please proceed to the medical bay for healing."

_**Jiongu**_ retracted its hold on Neji's form, hiding away within Naruto's body. The blonde moved off the field and into the medical bay, where a Hyūga began working on reopening his tenketsu. Neji was brought in on a stretcher a minute later and not too long after, Naruto was allowed to return to the viewing balcony. "Come find me again in a few years," Naruto stated. "Maybe then you'll be worth something."

-l-l-l-

Fū's eyes flicked nervously in Gaara's direction as Shikamaru and Temari left the balcony for the arena. Ever since Naruto had left to fight his own match, Gaara's cold teal eyes had stared at her with unrelenting intensity. It was highly unnerving, especially considering that Gaara's opponent, Uchiha Sasuke, had yet to appear in the stadium…and if he didn't show, _she_ would be the Suna-nin's opponent.

That was a fight she would prefer not to participate in.

Fū sighed in relief when Naruto stepped up beside her, looking slightly worse for wear from his fight with Neji. He threw her a sidelong glance and a thumbs-up. She returned the gesture with a small smile before turning to the fight just beginning in the arena, though her mind was far away, fastened on the boy next to her.

The green-haired girl owed Naruto more than she felt she could repay. He had single-handedly brought her out from her own personal hell and into a life she was thoroughly enjoying. (Of course, in comparison to the oppression she had faced back in Takigakure, that wasn't saying much.) Simply put, Naruto was her savior.

As far as her history went, Fū assumed that it was relatively normal by Jinchūriki standards. It at least seemed somewhat comparable to what she knew of Naruto's pre-Kakuzu years, limited though those were. The really early years of her life were faded memories, small clips of a family that used to be content and complete. Her father had been a dark-haired shinobi from Takigakure's Tribe of Earth, an accomplished ninja with equally dark eyes and a strong jaw. His wife was a brunette with soft green eyes, a civilian woman who had granted Fū her tanned skin. How Fū had ended up with pale, minty green hair and pink eyes was a mystery – especially considering that she had checked her birth certificate when she was older to make sure that she wasn't adopted – but she shifted the blame to odd genetics and recessive traits. All she knew was that her phenotype made her unique within her home, and that despite her odd characteristics, her parents had cared for her.

The first few years of her life had been simplistic. Her father was gone a lot, performing missions for the sake of his family's livelihood; her mom had raised her patiently, with a gentle, guiding hand. There were no specific details, because time had rotted away all but the faces of the people whose DNA ran through her, but Fū did recall the day everything changed.

At the age of 3, the five Village Elders had appeared on her family's doorstep and took the green-haired girl from the arms of her mother. They thanked the woman for her sacrifice and rushed Fū to a sealing chamber, where the bleeding body of a male in his early twenties lay on a table. Fū's wide eyes took in the sights of the room they were in before she was placed on another table and strapped to it. Next to her, the man's body shuddered and a groan escaped his lips as a powerful chakra leaked from him. "The beast is trying to escape, we must perform the ceremony now," snapped the Head Elder.

All Fū remembered after that was indistinct chanting and an oppressive pressure in the atmosphere before there was a glowing light and then immense pain as she became Takigakure's third Jinchūriki.

From then on, Fū never looked at the Hidden Waterfall Village in the same way. She had no idea of what had actually occurred, but it was enough that the first time she saw her parents after being taken away (a week later, when she had finally regained consciousness), her father had steered her mother in the complete opposite direction of her. It wasn't for another four months (a little after the first of many birthdays spent in solitude) that she discovered the exact reason why.

Fū had been playing on the ground in a vacant field when it happened. She was alone, which wasn't unusual considering the fact that no kids were willing to go near her anymore, and she preferred to be outdoors than cooped up inside the tiny living quarters she was provided. Her pointer finger swept through the dirt surrounding her, drawing thoughtless shapes which resolved themselves into crude images of her family. Wet spots appeared on the ground as tears fell from her eyes. _Why? Why did they all leave me?_ As her emotions overflowed with her tears, a miniature dust tornado swirled into existence in front of her. Fū gasped in surprise, and the construct fell apart.

_What…was that?_ Fū looked around for anyone in the nearby vicinity, but when the search revealed no one, she stared in wonder at the ground. _Did…did I do that?_ Closing her eyes, the green-haired girl placed her hand flat to the earth and focused intently. She slowly raised her hand, thinking only of the tiny dust devil she had created. Several minutes passed before she dared to look at the result.

Twirling in front of her was a perfect tornado of dust, no taller than six inches.

"_FINALLY,"_ rasped an irritated voice. And then everything disappeared.

Fū found herself standing in the middle of an almost barren field, a small patch of wilted flowers a mere ten feet in front of her. Towering far above her were bars of crystallized honey, arranged in a lattice-work grid shaped like a beehive, or a bird cage. Encaged behind the bars was a humongous yellow-green and blue beetle with spiked, armored plating for an exoskeleton and seven lithe, whip-like tails extending from it's the base of its abdomen; six of those had wings fading from yellow to orange to red attached to them. Fū stumbled back a pace and fell on her rear, sending up a cloud of dust. "Wh-what –"

"_A FEMALE,"_ grumbled the insect, _"I HATE FEMALES. TOO MANY EMOTIONAL ISSUES; HIGHLY UNBALANCED AND UNPREDICTABLE. THAT'S HOW MY THIRD HOST WAS, AND A TERRIBLE PLIGHT THAT AFFAIR ENDED UP BEING. NOW THE MALES END UP UNDERSTANDING HOW TO ASSOCIATE WITH ME. MY SECOND HOST USED TO BE ESPECIALLY GOOD AT USING MY POWERS; HE WAS SO TALENTED HIS BROTHER STOLE MY TECHNIQUE AND BECAME THE NIDAIME TSUCHIKAGE. AMBITIOUS MEN, BOTH OF THEM. EVEN THIS LAST FOOL WAS COMPETENT ENOUGH TO WIELD MY GIFT SUCCESSFULLY, UP UNTIL HE TOOK ON THAT SWORDSMAN FROM MIST AND GOT COCKY. IDIOT."_

While the giant bug rambled to itself, Fū took the opportunity to get to her feet and take tentative steps toward the cage. "Um…" she tried, quaking slightly in fright, "what are you?"

There was a repetitive raspy, grating sound which echoed around the area, and she guessed that…_it_…was laughing. _"AH, OF COURSE, THOSE FOOLISH VILLAGERS DON'T LIKE TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY BEYOND THE SEALING RITUAL. DO THE DEED AND THEN WIPE THEIR HANDS CLEAN OF THE ENTIRE AFFAIR. THE OTHER TWO HOSTS FROM THIS VILLAGE EXPERIENCED THE SAME TREATMENT."_

"…Um…"

"_PATIENCE!"_ it buzzed irritably. _"A PROPER INTRODUCTION DESERVES THE RIGHT TIMING."_ The creature seemed to draw itself upright, as if gathering every scrap of pride it possessed. _"I AM NANABI NO KABUTOMUSHI, THE SEVEN-TAILED HORNED BEETLE AND THIRD MOST POWERFUL BIJŪ IN EXISTENCE! I DESOLATED THE PLAINS OF IWAGAKURE WITH DUST STORMS GENERATIONS BEFORE YOUR BIRTH, WHILE THE SHODAI HOKAGE CAPTURED THE KYŪBI AND SEALED IT INTO HIS MATE…ARROGANT KITSUNE, GOT WHAT IT DESERVED."_

Whatever the giant creature in front of Fū was – because most of the references it was making was beyond her knowledge – it certainly seemed to talk a lot. "I don't really understand everything you said," she admitted.

The Seven-Tails grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'females'. _"OF COURSE NOT, YOU ARE YOUNG AND IGNORANT. I CAN EXPLAIN IN FURTHER DETAIL LATER IF YOU'D LIKE, BUT IT WILL COST YOU. IN THE MEANTIME, YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO CONTROL THE DUST ELEMENT. I WOULD SUGGEST PRACTICING HOW TO USE IT SO YOU DON'T DIE LIKE YOUR PREDECESSOR."_

"Dust Element? I've only heard of –"

"_OF COURSE YOU'VE ONLY HEARD OF THE MAIN FIVE!"_ interrupted the Nanabi. _"YOU'RE AN INSIGNIFICANT HUMAN CHILD, AND COMBINATION ELEMENTS ARE ALMOST ALL RARE BLOODLINE TRAITS. REGARDLESS, IT EXISTS. YOU SHOULD HAVE PROOF ENOUGH OF THAT ALREADY."_

Fū thought back to the miniature dust cyclone she had created outside. "Okay. Um…thank you."

There was a brief pause before the Nanabi's rasping laughter filled the open area. _"YOU'RE GRATEFUL TO ME? WHAT A RIDICULOUS NOTION. PERHAPS YOU WILL MAKE AN INTERESTING JINCHŪRIKI AFTER ALL…"_

The barren wasteland faded away to nothing before Fū was able to ask what a 'Jinchūriki' was. Crippling stomach pain and the Bijū's mirth was all she remembered before blacking out.

Years seemed to bleed together after that as Fū taught herself both Earth and Wind Release chakra manipulation. She discovered that _**Doton **_ninjutsu came much easier to her than did _**Fūton**_, but she assumed that that was because the man whom she shared genetics with – she refused to think of him as her father – specialized in the former. Combining the two into creating the Dust Release line of ninjutsu was another issue altogether.

Despite how amicable Nanabi no Kabutomushi had seemed when they first met, Fū quickly grew to understand that the Bijū was not someone to get friendly with. The Seven-Tails was a bit of a sadist and had a tendency to look down upon humanity; Fū had no issue with that – her own view of humanity became more jaded by the day – except that the beetle seemed to regard her with only a little more deference than he did the rest of the populace. Then there was the fact that every time the Bijū communicated with her, pain rippled through her belly in varying intensity. Apparently that was a side effect of the seal Takigakure employed, which was (according to the beetle) weaker than the seals used by Iwagakure. Fū never inquired as to the Seven-Tails' past or how it had that information, and the insect never revealed any specifics of its own volition either.

The other problem Fū had with the Nanabi was that it offered very little input on how to use _**Jinton **_ninjutsu (though she was thankful for the lack of pain from the seal). Fū deduced for herself that it was a combination element based on Earth and Wind Releases, but the combination aspect of the elemental chakras was far more difficult than she imagined. Taking into account the fact that she was forced to teach herself the theory and manipulate both elements (and with only a small amount of skill with wind chakra), Fū was impressed that she made much progress at all in the early years.

Another obstacle she came across arrived in the form of the Takigakure Elders, who informed her that she would be attending the Academy. When she tried protesting (for that would cut into training time), they told her that she contained Nanabi no Kabutomushi, and that if she wasn't trained to become the village's weapon, then they would extract the beast and put it in someone else, thereby killing her. Left with no options, she was forced to bow into their wishes.

It wasn't all bad. She learned all the fundamentals and basic facts of the school's major subjects, plus it gave her a stronger basis for the nature manipulation she was trying to accomplish. The best part, she decided, came sometime when she was 9-years-old, when the class was discussing history. Her class' teacher was reviewing the previous generations of the _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_ – Hidden Waterfall's elite Five Elements – but one of the members was noticeably absent. Knowing that she would be ignored if she asked (the life of a Jinchūriki, she had discovered, was quite unpleasant), Fū was quite pleased when one of her classmates asked about the anomaly.

The teacher scowled and proceeded into an hour-long tirade about a man named Kakuzu, his status in the village, and then his shocking betrayal during the First Great Ninja World War.

Whispers of the man considered Takigakure's biggest traitor traveled throughout the classroom. _LOYALTY IS A COMMODITY EASILY MOLDED IN THIS VILLAGE,_ buzzed Nanabi in Fū's mind, echoing the girl's own sentiments. Fū nodded absently, ignoring the slight pain in her stomach. The expression on the teacher's face as he spoke of Kakuzu…it closely mirrored how the villagers tended to look at her.

_Something's not right. There's a piece of the story that's missing._

Fū snuck into the library late that night after it closed, entering the section restricted to only ninja of Jōnin rank or higher. Dust, she had discovered after learning how to combine earth and wind natures, was prominent enough in her surroundings that – given time – she could gather enough of it to manipulate for her own purposes. Levering open a window or providing a muffled landing, for instance.

It had taken _a lot_ of searching, but after three days of relatively sleepless nights Fū finally found the information she was looking for. The document was a journal-cum-history book written during the time of the First Great Shinobi World War. She flipped through its pages, skimming the contents until Kakuzu's name caught her eye. Going back several pages, she began reading.

_"The Great Shinobi War has been going on for 7 years now. Konohagakure has been successfully repelling the assaults of Kumogakure and Sunagakure, much to our surprise and chagrin. Thanks to the waterfalls hiding our village, Takigakure has managed to retain its neutrality in the war and watch as the self-proclaimed Five Great Nations tear themselves apart. If Konohagakure falls in this war, then perhaps Takigakure can take its place as the real fifth Great Nation._

_"On a more personal level, Kakuzu is progressing along rather nicely. We have decided to create an elite branch of Jōnin similar to Kirigakure's Seven Swordsmen, in the eventuality that we are pulled into this global conflict. The **Gogyō Go-Kō **will be comprised of one ninja from each of the five founding tribes, the most powerful ninjutsu specialist of their own element. My grandson is training hard to fulfill the role of our **Suiton** expert. I believe he will exceed all of our expectations and do us proud."_

The entry was signed 'Takahashi Hiroki, Head Elder'. The name didn't ring any bells to Fū, and she skipped a couple of pages and buried herself back in the journal. Whoever Takahashi Hiroki was, his updates were sporadic, for the entry the Nanabi Jinchūriki landed on was dated 16 months later.

_"We don't know exactly what happened, but it appears as though my grandson will be tested sooner than expected. Konoha has acquired Kyūbi no Yōko, the legendary Nine-Tailed Demon Fox said to create natural disasters with just a swing of one of its mighty tails. Combined with the Shodai Hokage's strength, as well as that of his brother, the Great Shinobi War will no doubt swing in the Hidden Leaf's favor._

_"We would prefer if that didn't happen._

_"As a result, we have decided to send Kakuzu – the strongest of the **Gogyō Go-Kō** – on a mission to assassinate the Shodai Hokage. He will be departing tomorrow, and we send with him our hopes for success."_

_Ah_, thought Fū, _well that was a detail sensei skipped over._ She pushed a niggling suspicion to the back of her mind and moved on to the succeeding page, written only five days after the previous.

_"My grandson has failed. He has returned from the Fire Country wreathed in failure and on the brink of collapse. Apparently he was overwhelmed by the **Mokuton** ninjutsu of the First Hokage, a kekkei genkai which we all gravely underestimated. Now we are forced to make a decision which scars my soul in ways I never conceived possible._

_"As of today, Takahashi Kakuzu will be declared an official traitor of Takigakure._

_"In light of my grandson's failure, we have no choice but to acknowledge that our strength doesn't even compare to that of the fledging Konohagakure. To protect ourselves, Kakuzu will take the fall for the sake of the village, and we will claim that his actions were of his own volition. As I write this, my grandson now lies in the depths of our prisons, barely conscious. The other Elders and I must meet to discuss our next options…"_

"Well that explains more than it doesn't," Fū muttered. "They framed Kakuzu to take the rap for the failed mission that _they_ assigned in order to protect the village. Doesn't exactly paint Taki in a good light, does it?"

_MORTALS ARE SO EASY TO MANIPULATE,_ mused the Seven-Tails.

_That was rhetorical, _the Jinchūriki shot back down the mental connection, grunting as the pain from the seal flared. The Bijū's grating laughter echoed in her mind as she returned to the journal. Compared to the small, neat handwriting of the previous pages, the current entry was rushed, clearly written with a tremulous hand. Splotches of some dark liquid – blood, she guessed – was spread liberally across the page, making the short passage somewhat illegible, though Fū could interpret some of the partially covered words.

_"We – danger. Kakuzu escaped – stole **Jiongu** – killed Seiji – took his heart – coming for – sor –"_

The last word was left unfinished, and the largest stain of blood decorated the area immediately surrounding it. Fū guessed that Hiroki was trying to apologize for his actions against his grandson, but Kakuzu killed him before he could finish. The entry raised more questions than it answered. How did Kakuzu escape? What was _**Jiongu**_? What did Takahashi Hiroki mean by 'took his heart'? The remaining several pages were blank, though if the author died that was to be expected.

The Nanabi Jinchūriki closed the journal and re-shelved it. She dragged her fingers along the spines of the rest of the books in that row before moving on to the next one. Eight shelves later, she found the section she was looking for. Fū considered how much time would have passed before the updates were made, then grabbed a previous edition of the Bingo Book dated two years after the end of the First Great Shinobi World War.

Flipping through its contents, she quickly located the section dedicated to the smaller villages. Kakuzu's pupil-less green eyes set in red sclera stared out at her from the book's faded pages. He wore a grayish-blue flak jacket with shoulder straps over a similarly colored long-sleeved shirt; dark brown hair framed his face in messy strands.

Fū peered intently at the photo, memorizing its every detail. Though the man was probably long dead, he had quickly become her idol. He had the courage to face the adversity the village lumped on him and then shoved it right back in its face; he left a village which turned against him and successfully enacted his revenge on it. It was everything Fū wished she could do but lacked the power and constitution to actually carry out.

Basically, Kakuzu was everything Fū wished she could be.

So the green-haired girl had buckled down in her training efforts, multiplying the effort she put into improving herself. Perhaps if she tried hard enough, the day would come when she could follow in Kakuzu's footsteps. Over the next 31 months, Fū focused on bending the Dust Element to her will, trying to find the absolute perfect balance between _**Fūton **_and _**Doton**_ which best utilized the combined chakra. Eventually she was able to come up with what she felt was the right ratio, following it up by creating her own _**Jinton**_ techniques based off of many _**Suiton**_ ones (which were quite common, considering the plethora of water in Takigakure and size of the Tribe of Water). Her skills carried her all the way through the Genin Exam, where she graduated a year early, to when Naruto took her from the hell that was the Hidden Waterfall Village; riddled throughout her life were memories of solitude and pain, of abuse both physical and emotional suffered at the hands of her peers and their parents.

Everything seemed to disappear when Fū looked up at Naruto's teacher and found those unforgettable green and red eyes glaring heated daggers into the blonde's own blue orbs. His clothes were different (radically so), and his personality seemed cruel and sadistic, but he was _alive_.

It was all she could do to utter that first sentence, overcome by shock and a slight dose of fear – fear of what he had lived through and experienced, fear of being rejected by her idol, for who knew what over half a century of bitterness and solitude did to a person? Those strange eyes turned on her, fierce with a mixture of loathing and…intrigue.

The gods were apparently smiling upon her, for she became Kakuzu's second pupil through an almost ironic twist of fate. How else could one explain the fact that Takigakure's most prized possessions belonged to scorned outcasts who had met through a single, common thread named Uzumaki Naruto? Three months later found Naruto stuck training with Kisame, leaving Fū following her idol into the Earth Country for her own year of training. "I am curious," Kakuzu began after several hours of walking in silence, "what exactly the history books have told you about me."

Fū thought back several months to when she had met Kakuzu and told him that she knew only of his reputation through Takigakure's history books. "Well, to be perfectly honest…you're not _actually _in the history books." Kakuzu remained silent, though Fū sensed he was waiting for her to continue. "We were discussing the _**Gogyō Go-Kō **_–" Kakuzu snorted, and she honestly didn't know if it was contemptuous or humorously mocking "— and someone from the first generation was…absent."

The older nukenin could read between the lines. "Those fools would ignore my accomplishments."

The kunoichi decided to skip the trivialities of her past's searching endeavors. "I was curious, so I snuck inside the library and found an old journal from Takahashi Hiroki."

"Conniving old man," seethed Kakuzu.

"It…explained some things," she finished quietly after a moment. She didn't yet know enough about Kakuzu's personality or temperament to make accurate judgments on what he was thinking or how he was feeling, so she wanted to tread cautiously. Still, curiosity sometimes overrode self-preservation instincts. "But what's _**Jiongu**_?"

Kakuzu's arm lashed out, half his forearm attached to the rest of his limb by numerous black threads. Fū ducked to slap her palms to the ground and call up a wall of earth, knocking his forearm skyward at a slight angle. "Hmph, you are already learning." Fū grinned at the comment. "This is the power of _**Jiongu**_, the technique hidden away by the Elders upon the village's founding. They were afraid of the overwhelming power it offered its user." Kakuzu grinned wickedly, though his student couldn't see it. "They were right to do so."

"Whoa," she breathed, "that's awesome." Then she remembered something else from the journal. "Does it allow you to steal hearts?"

"That is a question you can ask Naruto when you next see him," he told her instead. "I will be frank with you. While ninjutsu is a specialty of mine, _**Jinton**_ is not one of the primary chakra elements, and so I have little advice to give on the subject.

"However, if you are truly interested in becoming my protégé, then I must impart upon you my expectations." He waited a moment, purposely building the tension before continuing, "It is my desire that you become the motivation for Naruto to grow stronger."

"I…don't really understand."

Kakuzu sighed. "My methods, as you will discover, are rather unconventional. I dislike dealing with children and ignorance, and more often than not I have my own agenda. Naruto was brought up in a cruel environmental, and then came under my care, which I am sure provided only some respite for his ego." He paused, as if to consider what he was saying, then admitted, "A side-effect of living by yourself for decades is that you come to care about no one but yourself. Making that person a caretaker to a young child is counterintuitive, though I have yet to hear a complaint from Naruto.

"However, I do not plan to change my methods; it is my belief that ninja do not need to have their hands held throughout their growth. I am not a kind man by any stretch of the imagination, and it is reflected in my training methodology. Yet, despite my belittlement of his skills, Naruto has the potential to become one of the greatest ninja the world has ever seen. It is my desire for you to be a stepping stone on his path, one which Naruto will strive to surpass, though I am certain that he is already stronger than you."

"Then why –"

"Because I have made him believe that he is weaker than he is. And I will continue to do so through back-handed compliments and barbs at his strength and comparisons of your abilities until he realizes his own greatness and stops seeking my approval. So you must rise to the challenge and provide him with competition, and that begins here." The former Taki-nin paused to allow his explanation to sink in. "…Do you accept this mission?"

"…_Why?_" she asked, and it wasn't anger at being used which laced the question, but shock at all the information she was receiving. "If you're as cruel as you say you are, and you don't care about anyone else, what's the point of doing all of this?"

"…Because Naruto will become my _legacy_."

Fū digested this answer and then shrugged. Kakuzu's answer, while seemingly straightforward and almost simplistic, was too cryptic for her to fully understand his motives. Not that it mattered too much at this point. She decided that he would either explain them to her in due time, or she would figure them out by herself. Either way, she was helping her savior and learning from her idol; life couldn't get much better. "Let's go."

A small tear appeared in Fū's white shirt as she belatedly dodged Kakuzu's attack, the unexpectedness of it successfully catching her off-guard this time. "_**Takigakure Ryū: Mizukiri no Yaiba;**_ Hidden Waterfall Style: Watercutting Sword," announced the bounty hunter. "This technique almost single-handedly ensured my position in the _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_."

"…You know how to use a sword," Fū noticed needlessly. _How did he form that weapon so quickly? _"You could've easily trained Naruto yourself. Why pass him on to someone different?"

"I only know some measure of basic kenjutsu. In comparison to my knowledge, the tutelage of one of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen will provide an opportunity for Naruto to excel in swordsmanship." Kakuzu disappeared, and before Fū could even react, he was behind her, Watercutting Sword held to her throat. "Additionally, we needed to have this conversation far removed from prying ears. Naruto can never know about any of this. He must be pushed to his limit and then over it, without ever discovering who stirs the pot. If that sounds too difficult for you…" he leaned in so he could speak directly into her ear, "I _will_ kill you."

Fū tried to steady her breathing, exhaled a little too hard, and felt a bead of blood run down her neck. "You drive a hard bargain." She tried to make her voice sound light, but it was hard to do when a ruthless killer – regardless of her opinion of him – had her at his mercy. "But this is all rather unnecessary. My loyalty lies with you and Naruto. And if this is for my benefit, for Naruto's benefit…then who am I to argue?"

The sword was withdrawn and Fū sighed in relief. "You are an amusing girl," Kakuzu stated after a moment of thought. "Let us commence with your training."

Things continued smoothly from that point…well, as smoothly as they could when Kakuzu was the tutor. Fū learned better through practical exercise as opposed to theory and book-learning, so as she and Kakuzu traveled around the Earth and Wind Countries (as well as some of the territory west of them), the bounty hunter taught her both his taijutsu style and a repertoire of _**Suiton**_ ninjutsu which she converted to _**Jinton**_.

The day before she and Kakuzu were supposed to reunite with Naruto, Fū asked the nukenin point-blank what he meant a year ago by using her to motivate Naruto: "I know that we had this conversation before we began training, but I still don't get your plan to use me to make Naruto stronger." She half-expected him to not answer, too withdrawn even after a year of just the two of them traveling together to explain things to her properly. To her pleasant surprise, he deigned to respond.

"Psychology," he began after a pause of consideration, "is an intriguing area of study. You would be surprised at how easily the brain is fooled into believing something simply through the subtle prods of actions and words. Manipulating the mind is an easy task if you know which buttons to push."

"Meaning?" Fū knew that Kakuzu tended to delve into long-winded explanations, but she was willing to listen if it answered what his goal was in a way that she would understand.

He paused, then continued, "For example, Naruto was forced to lead a life of solitude and exile when he was younger. As a result, he grew up desiring recognition from the people in his surroundings, doing anything to achieve their acknowledgment. Now the only person he has to impress, to find acceptance from, is _me_. So whether it is a conscious or subconscious desire – and I am of the opinion that it is the former – Naruto will seek my approval…my recognition…at any cost.

"Psychologically speaking, Naruto's mind is fragmented."

"…Are you saying that he's crazy?"

"_No,_" sighed Kakuzu, massaging the bridge of his nose to stave off his temper. "There is a stark difference between insanity and cognitive uncertainty." Fū made as if to say something, but Kakuzu cut across her. "Naruto does not possess confidence in his own strength because I have never recognized it, never accepted the breakthroughs he makes in his training. So he will grow stronger in an effort to prove himself to me."

"And you know this…how?"

The bounty hunter scoffed. "He is a textbook case. Easily manipulated to my will."

"So…if you're focusing on him, what am I doing here?"

"Do you listen to anything I say?" demanded Kakuzu irately. "Did you not comprehend a word of what I told you before we began this venture?" He fought the urge to strangle the green-haired girl. "You are a stepping stone on his path to greatness. Even though he is undoubtedly stronger than you –"

"If he's stronger than me, I don't understand my purpose!"

Kakuzu lashed out with his arms, threads wriggling out and ensnaring Fū in their grasp before she could react. They retracted and brought her up his face, his fierce green eyes boring holes into her pink ones. "Shut up and _listen_, girl. Naruto has been training for many years in a wide variety of areas; he possesses a natural talent for _**Fūton **_ninjutsu, an ancient kinjutsu allowing him to currently access _**Doton**_ and _**Suiton**_ techniques, and eventually the other elemental chakras as well, a Summoning Contract lost for half a century, a rare taijutsu style and now kenjutsu. On the other hand, your skills are limited to my own taijutsu and _**Jinton**_, plus its separate components; and while you can utilize both earth and wind chakra – the former in quite an impressive manner – your knowledge of _**Fūton **_ninjutsu is severely limited.

"But this works into my plan. While you have fewer fields of expertise, you have more successfully mastered Dust and Earth Release in your time using them than Naruto has had to understand any singular talent of his own. I am banking on this difference to impact Naruto's mentality. As he is now, he knows that he cannot compare to me; however, if his own peer, a fellow Jinchūriki, _appears_ to outdo him in such a short amount of time, it will force him to reassess his own skills, causing him to rise to the challenge to beat you.

"As I said before, psychology is a powerful weapon." He released the Nanabi's jailor, allowing the black tentacles of _**Jiongu**_ to slither back under his skin. "Even if it is untrue, a mind as splintered as Naruto's will accept what is force-fed to it. If you focus on upstaging him with your artistry in _**Doton **_and_** Jinton **_moves, then I will have the material needed to push him over the edge, to drive him into becoming the best that he can possibly be.

"You are a means to an end, although you too have the potential to become great. Knowing what I know now, I would expect no less from a Jinchūriki. But your needs are secondary to that of Naruto's growth." He turned with a swish of his cloak and kept walking. "It is not yet time for you to understand the specifics of the why, merely to play your part in the how." Low enough that Fū couldn't hear, he muttered, "Someone needs to carry on what I have started. Uzumaki Naruto will become my legacy by my hand, whether or not he is aware of it."

Eventually they met up with Naruto again and left for Konoha, dragged on their first team assignment to kill Orochimaru, bringing them all to their current scenario.

_Naruto…_True to her word, Fū never uttered a word to her fellow Jinchūriki about anything that Kakuzu told her; partly because she feared what the man would do to her if he found out (and he _would_ find out), but also because it was _working_. She had started paying close attention to the strategy Kakuzu employed to motivate Naruto, from his brusque dismissals to the compliments recognizing Fū's skill but not the blonde's. Strange as it seemed, over the course of the Chūnin Exams, Fū had seen Naruto double and redouble his efforts during training, his determination to impress Kakuzu and surpass her driving him to become better, stronger, more talented.

Just looking at his fight with Neji was proof of how far Naruto had come in such a short time. Granted, his training had been temporarily placed under Kakuzu's watchful (and strict) eyes in order to properly prepare him for the upcoming battle with Orochimaru's men, but his progress was still nothing to sneeze at. Considering his wide array of different aptitudes – especially in comparison to her meager skill set, as Kakuzu had pointed out – it was nothing short of amazing that Naruto had gotten as far as he had with each one. Fū had no doubt that he surpassed her as far as sheer ability went, even if some of his technique and expertise was a tad rawer.

There was always room for improvement, though. Despite his victory against Neji (impressive considering he had chosen to go toe-to-toe with a taijutsu specialist using taijutsu, even if he had won with _**Jiongu**_), Fū had little doubt that Naruto's performance would still be criticized by Kakuzu at first opportunity (including a _violent _telling-off for using _**Jiongu**_). Still, it was a little shocking to discover how good a mastermind the former Taki-nin was; almost as surprising as how well Naruto fell into the role Kakuzu predicted for him. Perhaps the blonde _was_ as psychological broken as Kakuzu said he was…

Not that she could tell. Her own sanity was probably as questionable as either Naruto's or Kakuzu's. Perhaps Kakuzu knew about Naruto's mental fragility because he was the same way? It was one of many explanations for why Kakuzu was the way he was.

"The fight's over," Naruto mentioned quietly, breaking Fū from her reverie. She looked down, spying the Sand kunoichi and the Konoha-nin standing mere feet apart. Both of them raised one hand, and several seconds passed before the proctor announced that Temari was the winner. "Interesting," mulled Naruto. Fū opened her mouth to ask for an elaboration, but Genma's voice broke through her question, saying that the match between Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara was next.

"Uchiha-san has yet to show up," intoned Shino. Fū's attention switched to the Aburame – absently noting that Neji had returned to the balcony – as the bug-user to face Sai. "As his teammate, I presume that you would know something of his whereabouts."

Sai shrugged, pasting a smile on his face. "Kakashi-sensei took him away for private tutoring. I'm sure Sasuke-san will show up soon."

"I hope he doesn't," spoke Gaara, who had yet to move towards the stairs. The Ichibi Jinchūriki shot Fū a hungry look which caused her to shiver. If Sasuke didn't appear for his match, then Gaara's opponent would be –

"He's here," announced Naruto. Everyone else looked to the arena, where Sasuke and Kakashi had just appeared in a swirl of leaves. Gaara grunted and moved to the stairwell as Fū watched him go; the green-haired girl breathed a low sigh of relief when he was no longer visible. "You okay?" Naruto whispered.

"Yeah…" she breathed. "Good thing the Uchiha showed up right on time. I _really_ didn't want to have to fight him."

He nodded. "Well let's see what the two of them can do."

Naruto, even as someone who experienced and witnessed the powers granted by a Bijū on a daily basis, would admit that Gaara's abilities were impressive. Upon the start of the fight, his sand caught Sasuke's thrown shuriken and morphed into a _**Suna Bunshin**_. Sasuke dispersed it with a couple of well-placed hits, and Naruto found himself equally impressed by the Uchiha's skill as he disappeared and reappeared behind the Suna-nin to land a punch to his jaw.

The blonde was forced to admit that Kakuzu's assessment of Gaara's abilities seemed accurate to a fault. Sasuke continued to pummel his opponent with taijutsu, cracks appearing in Gaara's sand armor as the Uchiha's overwhelming speed and power completely outclassed the red-head's defense. _Gaara's taijutsu abilities are about as existent as my own skill in genjutsu,_ Naruto concluded. _Kakuzu was right_. Not that that was overly surprising, just frustrating to admit.

Then, it stopped mattering. The Sand Genin enclosed himself in a sphere of sand; his opponent's fist smashed into it, but nothing happened. An eye formed above the sphere, and though Sasuke tried attacking it again and again – causing spikes of sand to shoot out at him – there was no change in the situation.

On the other side of the viewing balcony, Temari started trembling.

"What will you do now, Uchiha Sasuke?" muttered Naruto. As if in response, Sasuke backed away and ran high up the arena's wall, going through a series of hand signs and then grasping his left arm with his right. Blue-white lightning crackled in the palm of his left hand in an impressive display of nature manipulation for a Genin. Then he charged, lightning jutsu digging into the wall as he moved in a straight path towards Gaara's sphere of sand.

_Is that even going to work?_ the blonde wondered. While Gaara's automatic defense could be beaten with sheer speed and his armor was able to be cracked, the shell that he had erected seemed impervious to Sasuke's attacks up until that point. _Then again, normal sand is composed of some form of earth, and __**Raiton **__is strong against __**Doton**_, _so maybe…_

The Uchiha thrust his hand forward. The lightning attack split the sand like a knife going through hot butter. There was a brief five seconds of silence as Sasuke stood there with his arm shoved halfway into the sphere. Then…

"_MY BLOOD!_" screamed Gaara.

About half a dozen different things happened almost simultaneously in the split second following the boy's bloodcurdling cry. Gaara's protective sphere exploded outward in a shower of sand, blasting Sasuke backwards and sending him skidding along the ground.

Smoke engulfed the area where the Kazekage and the Hokage were sitting, galvanizing several ANBU Black Ops hidden in the crowd into action.

Temari leapt from the viewing balcony and glided to the battlefield on her fan as two other figures – Kankurō and the Sand Siblings' sensei, guessed Naruto – joined her from the stands.

Ninja dressed in the uniforms of the Hidden Sand and the Hidden Sound leapt from their seats and began engaging ninja of the Hidden Leaf in battle.

White feathers obscured Naruto's vision and his eyelids suddenly felt heavy. "Genjutsu," he mumbled. He tried to bring his hands up to form the seal to dispel the technique, but his arms felt like lead, sluggish with sleep, and he swayed dangerously on the spot. Then the feeling disappeared, and Naruto blinked himself back to awareness. Fū's pointer and middle fingers were held to his forehead and her eyes were closed; she had disrupted his chakra for him, breaking the illusion. "Thanks." Fū nodded once before both undercover Genin found themselves frozen in place, a buzzing sound filling the air around them.

Shikamaru was bent with one knee on the ground, his hands in the seal for his clan's trademark jutsu. Shino stood next to him, his _kikaichū_ swarming around him in an angry black cloud; Neji and Sai flanked them, the former in a _**Jūken**_ stance and the latter holding his tantō out threateningly. "What are your intentions here, Rain ninja?" demanded Neji.

Naruto sighed. "If you're asking if we're part of this apparent invasion of your village, the answer's 'no'. Do you see any Rain ninja attacking?"

The four Konoha Genin exchanged looks. "Seriously?" asked Fū. "Don't you have anything better to do than detain us? I'm pretty sure I just saw Sasuke following after Gaara and his teammates…who _are_ part of the force attacking your village. _And_ your Hokage is in trouble." They all turned around to see Sasuke disappear over the wall and that a purple barrier had been erected around the roof of the main watchtower.

"She has a point," Shikamaru stated, releasing the Shadow Imitation.

The two Jinchūriki each held up a hand in farewell. "Later," they chirped in unison. In a swirl of wind and dust, they were gone.

"Perhaps it would have been wiser to interrogate them a bit more," Shino mused. No one said anything to this, but Sai pulled out his scroll and summoned an ink bird. He jumped onto the animated creature and flew off in the direction Sasuke had left. The three remaining Genin nodded and then followed him out, leaping from the balcony and running across the arena and over the wall top.

Naruto and Fū reappeared from their respective _**Shunshins**_ in the fighting arena far from the fight between Genma and the Sand Siblings' sensei. "Shouldn't we be finding Kakuzu and Harō?" asked the Nanabi Jinchūriki.

"In this mess?" Naruto retorted. "Konoha, Suna, and Oto are all fighting, and we don't even know where they are." He paused, scanning the crowd in a vain attempt to find the two males. "No, it's better to stay somewhere obvious and let them find us."

"Good," stated an older voice, "because that makes it more convenient for us." Naruto and Fū whirled around to find an elderly man with a cane standing behind them. He was flanked by five ninja wearing the standard Takigakure Jōnin outfit, the fifth one possessing a porcelain mask with the Hidden Waterfall emblem on the forehead and a blue and light-blue overlapping wave pattern decorating the bottom portion.

"Um –"

"Shinobu of Amegakure, correct? My name is Arakawa Daisuke, and I'm curious to know where you got that _most intriguing_ ability you displayed against the Hyūga child." The man's tone was pleasant enough, but Naruto knew that it was just a front.

"…_Kekkei genkai_?" he offered.

"Ah," allowed Daisuke, "and yet you have no clan affiliation. How curious…" He paused in a way that suggested he was thinking over what Naruto had just told him, considering the likelihood of such a scenario. "Do you know what I think?" There was a loud explosion as a giant three-headed snake broke through the wall surrounding Konoha; to the blonde, it was like the herald of his own doom. "I think that you're in possession of an ancient technique that belongs to Takigakure." Daisuke looked like he wanted to say more, but his eyes darted to the side and widened upon seeing Fū.

_Oh shit,_ thought Naruto, mentally preparing for the worst, _we're so screwed._

"_You,_" hissed the elder, "how _dare_ you –". He took a moment to recompose himself before turning his full attention back to Naruto. "Apparently you possess more than one secret of the Waterfall's. Capture them alive," he ordered his guards, "I want to know everything they know about Kakuzu. Today is the day we reclaim both of Takigakure's lost prizes."

Naruto and Fū moved to stand back-to-back as the five Waterfall Jōnin formed a loose circle around them. The sounds of clashing kunai resounded in the auditorium, accentuated by the shouts of fighting ninja and the thuds of bodies hitting walls and stadium seats. Naruto glanced at the purple barrier, where he presumed Orochimaru and the Sandaime Hokage were locked in a deadly fight for their lives. "I'll give Orochimaru this," he commented to Fū. "He sure knows how to create a scene."

And then, amidst the chaos of the invasion, their adversaries pounced.

-l-l-l-

**(Real) Author's Note:** Real life sucks. That's all the explanation for why this chapter was so late. Hopefully the length makes up for it. And yes, psychology is a bitch. You wouldn't believe the negative things I thought about myself with no real evidence. Also, the genjutsu Kabuto uses is A-Rank, meaning Naruto's not gonna break it with his level of training, and I apparently can't write taijutsu fights. Additionally, the history of Fū is revealed; the (intentional) gaps of Takigakure's, the Nanabi's, and Kakuzu's histories will be filled in shortly.

Manga thoughts (i.e. SPOILERS): OF COURSE _**Jinton**_ is actually composed of Earth, Wind, and FIRE Elements! Because honestly, when I think dust, I think small pieces of earth blown by the wind which then erupt into _burning embers_. Thankfully, it doesn't affect my intentions that much…makes it a bit more interesting actually, but I digress. Also, if Kakuzu, a truly immortal Kakuzu, loses to Izumo, Kotetsu, and a chakra-exhausted Darui, I will cry. And I want to see the Tsuchikages fight, as well as the Jinchūriki. Damn it all, get to those battles!

Anyway, drop me a review if you could and let me know what you think! One of my close friends is working on artwork for this story, so feel free to check that out and let him know what you think too!


	11. Confrontations

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

"For as intelligent as Orochimaru is renowned to be, one would think he would have imparted some of his genius upon his subordinates," groused Kakuzu. Having already activated _**Doton: Domu**_, the man's fist easily plowed through the chest of an attacking Oto-nin, killing him instantly. Harō, standing mere feet from him, hit several pressure points in another ninja's leg, causing him to recoil in pain. Kakuzu took the opportunity to loose his arm at the man, the threads of _**Jiongu**_ burrowing under his skin and pulling out his heart. "Idiotic Sound shinobi," he snarled, more threads ripping through his shirt from the shoulders and spearing two leaping opponents in midair, "can they not see that we have no affiliation with the Leaf?"

Harō shrugged, unsheathing the twin katana _**Kiba**_ from his back. He channeled a small amount of lightning chakra, just enough to paralyze the enemy trying to sneak up on the duo long enough for Kakuzu to kill him. Despite holding several soldier pills – something he preferred not to rely on but found necessary given the uncertainty of the inevitable battle ahead (in which he would rather _not _become a liability due to chakra exhaustion) – the cobalt-haired boy was trying to conserve as much chakra as possible. "At least they're not particularly strong," he offered.

"Another point against the Sannin. Konoha is renowned as one of the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Sending the second string in to fight its populace – whether a large quantity is asleep or not – was a foolish endeavor."

The bounty hunter had a point. All over the stadium, Konoha's elite ninja were fighting back against the combined forces of the Sand and the Sound. Harō supposed that the invasion would've been more of a success had Sabaku no Gaara actually been able play his role properly (whatever _that_ was). As it was, the might of Orochimaru's village in conjunction with the Hidden Sand was proving to be more of a nuisance than an actual threat.

That held especially true when your partner was an S-Class nukenin with a powerful kinjutsu at his disposal. "Enough!" roared Kakuzu, black tendrils multiplying from seemingly nowhere to ensnare a handful of enemy ninja.

And a powerful temper…it certainly worked to their advantage that Kakuzu had rage issues. Especially considering that they were the only two conscious ninja in their section of the stands. It made them an obvious target, if a rather senseless one, since defending Konoha wasn't on their list of priorities. _Good thing Kakuzu's on our side. He's taking out most of these guys single-handed._

Several snapping sounds from Kakuzu's direction brought Harō back to attention in time to duck a kick from a Suna-nin. He crossed his two swords together so that the tips touched the man's legs and sent enough lightning through his body to fry his brain. The boy glanced down to see two small figures – one possessing Fū's telltale pale green hair – engaged in battle with five other figures, a sixth person standing nearby. "Hey, Izo-sen –"

"Stop calling me that," Kakuzu snapped. "We no longer need to keep these ridiculous aliases, our cover is no longer important."

"…Alright. Well, Kakuzu, I think Naruto and Fū are in trouble."

The mercenary's head twisted so quickly, Harō was surprised that he didn't hear the crack of vertebrae. Kakuzu's unusual eyes narrowed at the sight in the arena, and the Rain rebel heard him mutter, "That damned little shit," as a Suna-nin tried to lodge a kunai into Kakuzu's spine. The knife hit the hardened skin of Kakuzu's Earth Spear technique, and the Sand shinobi's eyes widened in surprise. They glazed over in death as the former Taki-nin grabbed him with threads from his shoulder and ripped out his heart. "We need to finish this quickly," Kakuzu stated seriously. Harō wasn't entirely sure why the older male suddenly sounded so dire _now_ of all times, but he wasn't about to question it.

"If you say so."

Unbeknownst to the boy, Kakuzu had noticed a detail about the ninja assaulting the two Jinchūriki that Harō wouldn't have been able to identify. _That mask…_ He _knew_ that mask…nearly a lifetime ago it had belonged to him, a symbol of pride for the handful skilled enough to earn it. His two pupils – talented though they had proven themselves to be – weren't prepared for one of Takigakure's _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_, no matter how pathetic the Waterfall's soldiers were.

_Once I dispose of these gnats, I will show those fools the true mettle of the Five Elements!_

-l-l-l-

Sai leapt to the ground from his bird as four different Sand Jōnin launched a wall of wind at him. Ink succumbed to gravity as his drawing was destroyed, falling down in black puddles around him. The opposing ninja alighted near him. "Take him out," ordered one of them, and the other three moved forward to do the man's bidding.

They froze mid-movement, and from behind him, Sai heard a muttered, "_**Kagemane no Jutsu, **_complete." Buzzing filled the air as insects descended upon one of the Jōnin, and Sai capitalized on the moment by binding the other two with hastily drawn ink snakes. The remaining Suna-nin's face contorted into a frown.

Sai glanced behind him, confirming that Shikamaru, Shino, and Neji had arrived as back-up. The shadow-user was on one knee, and as the ink-user watched, his shadow disconnected from the three enemies and shot towards the fourth. The Suna-nin back-pedaled away from it, waiting until Shikamaru gave up trying to bind him. "A Nara," he noted, eyes darting to the other boys, "a Hyūga, an Aburame…and some whelp." The Jōnin shook his head. "Four Genin catching us unaware. How sad. Still, it won't happen again."

"It is four against one," stated Shino in his bland voice. His _kikai_ moved from the fallen form of their target to begin surrounding the last man. "Whether we are Genin or not, we have felled your comrades."

"True," admitted the Jōnin. Then he whistled, and a score of men wearing the clothing of Suna and Oto appeared from the surrounding trees and bushes. "And now you're outnumbered and outclassed."

Sai formed a loose ring with his peers. Though his rank was being underestimated, the Jōnin had a point. As a member of ROOT, Sai was sent on mostly solo missions (after his 'brother' had died anyway), where the odds of running into multiple opponents – let alone the number currently facing him and his comrades – were slim to none. The mission to track Sasuke was going to have to be put on hold temporarily, at least until they could bypass this current obstacle.

Shikamaru easily summarized his thoughts with a muttered, "Troublesome." And then there was no time for thinking.

-l-l-l-

"He's mine to kill," rasped Gaara, clutching his head with a hand. "Get in my way, and I'll kill you too."

Sasuke watched as a protesting Temari and a nervous Kankurō stepped away from their brother. Gaara's teal eyes were locked onto his form, and Sasuke felt inexplicably apprehensive. _'You have the same eyes as I do…the eyes, filled with hatred and death, that long for strength…'_ It was what Gaara had said to him while he was training with Kakashi before the Chūnin Exam Finals. Somehow, the words seemed much more appropriate and intimidating when those eyes were staring him down, the promise of death looking him in the face and no elite Jōnin around to defend him.

Then Death changed form. Sand coalesced around Gaara's face and right arm. A massive clawed limb – as long as he was tall – seemed to grow from the gathered particulates, inscribed with blue vein-like designs and tipped with black claws instead of fingers. The red-head's face was affected as well, the strangely patterned sand overtaking his right eye, down the side of his nose, and around his mouth. Drool leaked out from the orifice in a representation of Gaara's insatiable bloodlust, and his normally teal eye was now a demonic golden-yellow with a black, four-pointed star for an iris. "Come, Uchiha Sasuke! Let me prove my existence!"

He shot forward, and Sasuke was momentarily taken aback by the other boy's increased speed. The Uchiha jumped to the next tree as Gaara crashed through the spot he had just vacated, splintering the plant's trunk. Gaara screamed his rage to his surroundings as his prey hunkered behind a separate tree, steadying his breathing. "Do you fear me, Uchiha Sasuke? Mother is thirsty, she wants your blood!"

Sasuke's eyes bled into the crimson of the Sharingan as he went through the hand signs for the _**Chidori**_. Never again would he allow himself to be considered a coward, not after _that man_ had destroyed everything he once held dear. He was no longer a defenseless Academy student, quivering in fright in the shadow of his family's murderer. He was an Uchiha, the elite of the elite, and he wasn't going to bow down to some other ninja, especially one whom he had previously held an advantage over.

The Leaf Genin stepped out from behind his perch, using the bough as a fulcrum and propelling himself towards Gaara. Laughing maniacally, the red-head mimicked the charge, monstrous arm extended forward. The lightning split Gaara's sand limb as easily as it had punched a hole in the defensive shell earlier, and Sasuke smirked.

Gaara screamed again, though Sasuke detected a tinge of masochism in the sound. "_Pain!_" screeched Gaara. "This is why I must kill you…to end the life of the person who causes me pain!" The sand from his shoulder merged with that from his gourd, sprouting into a long, thick tail with the same blue vein pattern and black-tipped spikes as his arm.

Using the Sharingan, Sasuke managed to see Gaara's reckless dive in almost slow-motion, the Suna-nin somehow moving even faster than before despite his added bulk. Gaara's clawed hand exploded in different directions, and the Uchiha only managed to dodge thanks to his _kekkei genkai_. He shot a Great Fireball at the boy, but it dispersed upon contact with the sand.

_The only thing that affects him is the __**Chidori**__,_ he realized, _and I'm already at my limit. Damn it, what can I do?_ An image of Itachi – his older brother, the murderer of his clan – flashed through his mind. _'You lack hatred,' _intoned the ghost of his past, the single reason for his existence, _'and that makes you weak.'_

"I – am – not – _weak!_" he growled. Orochimaru's Cursed Seal burned brightly, spreading its flame-like marks across the entire left side of his body and giving him the strength to activate a third _**Chidori**_. "Haaahhh!" he cried, charging forward again.

This time, he cleaved off Gaara's entire arm just below the shoulder before alighting on a tree branch. The Uchiha smirked once at his success and then collapsed face-first where he stood, drained of chakra from the Cursed Seal.

Gaara let out another burst of insane laughter as his sand arm reconnected with his body. Using his tail, he jumped towards the fallen Genin, claws extended in a grab. The digits wrapped around the Uchiha's body and hoisted him into the air, where he could clearly see the Suna-nin's lolling tongue and insane golden eyes. "Goodbye, Uchiha Sasuke!" The sand covered the Konoha-nin's head and compacted.

There was no sound for a long moment. Temari and Kankurō were frozen in shock, waiting to see if the raven-haired boy would appear and retaliate. A trickle of blood leaked out from the sand casing, and Gaara began to laugh shrilly. "He's dead!" he crowed. "Finally!" So absorbed in his personal celebration, he was caught unaware by the explosion which blew off half his sand arm. It reformed quickly, but unable to find the source of this new enemy, Gaara screamed his rage to the sky.

Out of sight range from the Sand Siblings were two figures. One was crouched on a thick tree limb suspended a little over 50 feet above the ground. Underneath the straw hat (a _kasa_) upon his head, he fiddled with a complex scope affixed to his left eye. Below him sat a stooped person, the black robes, mouth-cloth, and conical hat keeping the hunched figure completely concealed. "So that's the power of the Ichibi, hm," stated the person in the tree.

"You better not take forever," replied the other figure gruffly. "You know how much I hate waiting…Deidara."

The first ninja threw off his _kasa_, revealing long blonde hair held erect in a partial ponytail and lengthy bangs which completely hid his left eye (and the scope) from view. "No worries, Sasori no Danna, hm." He withdrew his other hand from a pouch attached to his waist, opening the appendage to reveal a mouth in the center of the palm. It opened to spit out a small off-white bird, which the blonde tossed into the air. His hands came together to form the sign of the Ram, expanding his creation with a small application of chakra into a size that could carry humans. He jumped atop the creature with the ease born of practice. "This fight'll be just like my art, a fleeting piece of work!" With that, he wheeled off towards his target, giving Sasori no time to retort.

"Impudent brat. His impatience will get him killed." Sasori shuffled off, using the path his partner had flown off on as his general heading. "If he dies, I'll have to complete the mission myself. I wonder how the Sandaime Kazekage would fare against the Ichibi Jinchūriki…"

-l-l-l-

Fighting Jōnin was _far_ more challenging than taking on other Genin or even Chūnin…even if said Jōnin were from a smaller Hidden Village like Takigakure. It shouldn't have surprised Naruto as much as it did. Standards for rising to Jōnin were probably high no matter what village a ninja belonged to, so they would obviously have to be more skilled than a mere Genin, even if Naruto's and Fū's talents were actually around Chūnin-level.

Still, they were being targeted by the nation which had produced Kakuzu – though the man would certainly deny how influential the Hidden Waterfall had been in building his current strength – and Fū, people Naruto respected for their power. It at least partially explained why he and the Nanabi Jinchūriki were having trouble getting the edge over the five Jōnin. That and they were outnumbered. _No wonder Kakuzu likes hunting bounties removed from civilization. It's a lot easier when there are no other distractions to interfere with the kill._

And it helped more when the enemies weren't coordinating their assault in a tailored format to bring him down.

"_**Katon:**__** H**__**ōsenka **__**no Jutsu**_; Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."

"_**Fūton: Reppūshō**_; Wind Release: Violent Wind Palm."

"SHIT!" Fueled by the wind chakra, the small fireballs swelled to uncontrollable, and unavoidable, sizes. Confronted with the approaching flames, Naruto quickly laced his fingers together into the seal of the Dragon, arms extended out and pinkies pointed down. "_**Jiongu: Shīrudo **__**Fōmu!**_" he shouted. Threads burst forth from his sleeves, twining together into a solid web in front of his body.

Two of the five fireballs struck the barrier squarely, dispersing upon contact but burning away the tips of some of the threads; the third went just a little too wide and missed him completely. He jumped back, allowing the fourth to hit the ground where he had just been standing, and the fifth clipped the side of the threads, passing by Naruto's arm close enough that the blonde felt its heat. _**Jiongu**__'s Shielding Form…thank you thank you thank you!_

The Shielding Form was the latest manipulation out of the handful Naruto had thus far invented with the kinjutsu, inspired by _**Jiongu**_'s resiliency to most outside attacks and Kakuzu's _**Doton: Domu**_ (before he had fully understood the Earth Spear technique). It was more convenient than the ninjutsu because the boy could more easily access and control it, but revealing it in a fresh battle would probably forfeit any advantage of surprising an opponent with the threads (or so he theorized…a practical application had yet to be tested). Since he was being targeted _because_ of the forbidden technique though, he didn't see the harm in fully utilizing it to his advantage.

Something burning caused Naruto's nose to twitch in irritation, and he looked down to see that the last burst of flames which had only grazed the makeshift shield had caught the edge of his scarf. Naruto unwound the cloth from around his neck, throwing it away with a curse. "Honestly, why do they wear something that could so easily kill them?" he complained aloud.

"_**Suiton: Haran Bansh**__**ō**_; Water Release: Stormy Blockade."

Suddenly, the flaming material was the least of the Jinchūriki's problems. A deluge of water fell from the sky and battered him down, stifling him under its weight. Pounding at his skull, the liquid forced Naruto's mental processes to slow, and it took him an extra moment to figure a way out of the torrent.

He silently activated _**Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu**_ to slip underground, the water following him as a trickle instead of the veritable flood. There was no telling how much time he had to build a strategy before he was found, but he knew it wouldn't be long.

The Waterfall Jōnin were well-organized, he would give them that. They had split up the two Jinchūriki upon the Elder's attack command, a synchronized pair wielding _**Katon**_ and _**Fūton**_ affinities cornering Naruto. The Kyūbi's jailor grudgingly admitted that it was a smart move, since wind only enhanced fire, which nullified any of his own Wind Release techniques (if they knew he actually specialized in them) and boosted their firepower. From his periphery, the blonde caught Fū fighting at a massive disadvantage against a _**Raiton**_ user and a _**Doton**_ specialist, whose skill he presumed at_ least_ equaled the girl's own, if not surpassed it.

Then there was the masked _**Suiton**_ expert…he bounced between the two squalls, capitalizing on every opening either Jinchūriki presented and defending his comrades against any counterattacks. He seemed to be on a different level than the other four, a caliber enough above them that he was able to read into whatever plans the blonde made. It made Naruto glad that the man wasn't focusing his complete attention upon either himself or Fū, because otherwise neither might have still been fighting.

If the _**Suiton**_-using Jōnin wasn't around to interfere with his retaliations, Naruto thought that he could at least do _something_ against the pair of Taki-nin assaulting him. Following his victory against Neji, Naruto's confidence in his own skill had risen. Though beating the duo was questionable, (because all things held constant, he was still sorely outranked _and_ being double-teamed) he felt that some of his endeavors could've been more successful than what he was currently experiencing.

Also playing against him was the fact that they had seen his battle against the Hyūga, making them wary of getting within (their presumed) range of _**Jiongu**_. He decided to look at his present scenario as a potential worst-case situation for the life of a shinobi – bounty hunter included – gone awry.

_Time's up. _He popped up from the Hiding Like a Mole Technique, tantō drawn and ready to cut down one of his opponents with applied wind chakra and subterfuge.

"_**Suiton: Mizu Teppō**_; Water Release: Water Gun," called a voice, and Naruto wasn't even able to blink before a powerful stream of liquid caught him in midair. He hit the ground hard, tumbling head over ass from the force of the ninjutsu.

Sopping wet blonde bangs tickled his forehead, and Naruto felt his scalp, concluding that the covering he had worn for the entirety of the Chūnin Exams had been blown off. "Not that I need it anymore anyway," he muttered, blowing the strands away with an upset huff. Giving the gesture up as futile when the tips fell back down, he shook his head like a dog, ridding his hair of the excess moisture. He gave the masked man a dirty look. "You know, I'm really tired of you," he stated.

"Then perhaps we should end this," returned the Taki-nin. He performed several hand seals, manipulating a geyser of water to burst from the earth and form a concave shell around Naruto. The liquid almost entirely surrounded the blonde, even covering the top and forming a thin layer beneath his feet, leaving only a two foot wide opening in the front.

Naruto tried touching the barrier to manipulate it, surprised to find it solidified but not frozen. "What the hell?" he murmured. Then the tag-team Jōnin appeared in the slim space in front of him, both preparing jutsu. Blue orbs widened minutely, and he tried activating a defensive water technique Kisame had taught him – _**Suiton: Suijinheki**_; Water Release: Water Encampment Wall – only for the liquid to, once again, prove unresponsive. "Son of a –"

His curse broke off as the masked Taki-nin's head swiveled to the stands and back – _sensing a portent of things to come?_ Naruto wondered – and the other two ninja finished their seals. "_**Katon: **__**Gōkakyū n**__**o Jutsu**_."

"_**Fūton: Kaze no**_ –"

There was a loud _crack_ as a giant man appeared behind that Taki-nin and grabbed his head, twisting it with one fluid motion. The Jōnin fell to the earth, motionless, and Naruto found he honestly couldn't remember a time when he was as grateful to see Kakuzu as he was at that moment. Then he remembered the giant fireball still bearing down on him.

Kakuzu apparently had that covered too. Three hand seals, a punch to the ground, and a grunt of, "_**Doton: Rokkutoreiru**_," prefaced the eruption of a jagged mass of boulders on a path perpendicular to the fiery attack. The conflagration struck the rocks, scattering against the defensive maneuver.

Naruto heaved a sigh of relief. "Thanks Ka –"

"Save your own miserable hide next time," snapped Kakuzu, turning to show the blonde his ire. The Jinchūriki was momentarily taken aback, not by the words, but by the fact that Kakuzu didn't have anything disguising his face; both the breathing apparatus and the full head covering were gone, revealing dark, shoulder-length hair, his half-stitched mouth, and a square jaw.

Arakawa Daisuke took advantage of the interruption to step forward with assistance from his cane. "Takahashi Kakuzu," he began, voice a sibilant caress, hatred lacing the name.

"Do not call me that!" seethed the mercenary. "I renounced that name when your damnable village left me to rot!"

"You will die here today," continued the Waterfall Elder as if Kakuzu had not interrupted, voice becoming gleeful, "in reparation for the sins which befell our village because of you. Jirō, take him out."

Kakuzu let out a derisive bark of laughter at that. Naruto, watching the scene play out with morbid fascination, briefly toyed with the idea that Kakuzu was afflicted with some sort of bipolar or multi-personality disorder; his mood shifted with disturbing alacrity. "You think that one of your pathetic lackeys can kill me? In case you were unaware, that mask used to be _mine_…he cannot defeat me with skills that I have had decades to master. But come," he motioned, "I need a warm-up before my real target. Let us see what the current _**Nami no **__**Kōtō **_of the _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_ can do against the original."

_The Surging Wave?_ thought Naruto. _No wonder he renounced Taki…they come up with the worst names ever. _He started looking around, a sudden realization occurring to him. _If Kakuzu's here, then where's Harō?_

A bolt of lightning, all but invisible if he hadn't actively been searching for _something_, crossed in front of Naruto's vision. Long and thin in the shape of a lance, the elemental weapon speared into one of the men fighting Fū. He dropped like a stone.

Naruto blinked before he remembered that Harō was a self-proclaimed sniper. "So that's what he meant." Naruto shrugged. "Works for me." He became aware of the fact that – still encased in the water 'cage' – he hadn't yet been attacked. The fire-using Jōnin just now seemed to be recovering from the fact that _Kakuzu_ had appeared, let alone that his partner was now dead. He stepped outside of the hardened water 'cage', posture much more relaxed now that the _**Suiton**_-user was busy fighting Kakuzu and the _**Fūton**_-user was dead. "Let's dance."

"_**Katon:**__** H**__**ōsenka **__**no Jutsu!**_"

No wind added to the flames meant he could counter the attack as he normally would: with an equally strong water jutsu. "_**Suiton: Mizu Rappa**_." The Violent Water Wave showered over the miniature fireballs, extinguishing them with steaming hisses and forcing the Jōnin to dodge the rest of the liquid. Naruto raised an eyebrow. _Or completely overwhelm it. That's interesting…_

Water trumping fire was a natural part of the cycle of elemental manipulation, so the fact that Naruto's attack beat the Taki-nin's wasn't overly surprising. The more intriguing part was that he – a Genin-slash-Chūnin – had easily overpowered a Jōnin-level man's attack without even putting his best effort into the counter. Anomalies like that triggered one of Naruto's more masochistic personality quirks.

As an analytical shinobi, Kakuzu often preached the concept of never rushing into battle unprepared, to never assume that your opponent didn't have any hidden tricks up his sleeve. Though not always able to abide by that rule – both overconfidence and rashness were fickle acquaintances of the blonde – Naruto had developed a peculiar tick for experimenting with his adversaries. By putting his body (which was mostly impervious to damage in the long-term anyway, thanks to the Kyūbi) on the line, he could more accurately flush out his enemy's abilities so he would know what to expect.

It wasn't the most ingenious of solutions, even he would freely admit that, but it definitely created a plethora of interesting situations for him to play around with. The match against Neji was proof of that.

A loose stream of fire was shot towards him, and this time Naruto successfully used _**Suiton: Suijinheki**_, calling up a vein of water from underground to defend him. The two techniques canceled out, coating Naruto in vapor. He manipulated the air surrounding him to push the evaporated liquid away. "I have a hypothesis," Naruto stated with a growing smirk. "I think that your Jōnin status and strength came from your partnership with your dead friend over there."

The fading pallor of the man's skin tone prompted Naruto's smirk to grow into a full blown grin. _Oh, this'll be too easy. Take away half of the duo, and the 'Jōnin' is revealed to be a Chūnin._ Using wind manipulation was still a no-no, of course, because no matter his rank, _**Fūton **_versus _**Katon**_ was still a terrible idea for whoever was utilizing the former.

That was fine though, because if there was one thing Naruto possessed, it was variety. He spewed a large amount of water around the field with the Violent Water Wave, dousing the area in a fine layer of fluid. The stream cut off, allowing the blonde to swallow thickly. _There seriously has to be a better way to bring water to the field than just overpowering that_, he mused with a scowl. _I should really learn __**Bakusui Shōha**_. Pushing that thought aside for the time being, he began building his chakra for (what he hoped would be) the final move.

One of his arms shot out at the Taki-nin, interrupting what was sure to be another fire jutsu. The man dodged left, prompting Naruto's other arm to also lash out, roughly boxing in the man within two thick series of tendrils. _Gotcha!_ His hands – now placed strategically behind the other man – came together, forming seals and utilizing the chakra he had prepared. _**Suiton: Suigadan**__; Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!_

Too busy watching the writhing threads of _**Jiongu**_ slowly encroach on his position, the fire-user wasn't aware of the rotating fangs of liquid until it was too late. Four different spouts pierced his body in varying areas. He cried out in pain, a signal the threads around him took to converge on his form and wrap him up tightly. Naruto mentally damned the sentience of the kinjutsu as several of the black tendrils fought their way out of his control, burrowing deep into the Taki-nin's body and ensnaring his heart.

They yanked, pulling out the muscle and ensuring that if the _**Suigadan**_ hadn't killed the man, they certainly had. The kinjutsu twined around the heart, preparing to integrate it into Naruto's chakra network. _No,_ he ordered firmly, _not this time._ The threads seemed to defy with him, insisting that it would be good, having this new organ.

Naruto couldn't argue with that; adding a third extra heart (his fourth in total), would increase the variability of techniques he could access when in battle. There were two unfortunate problems: the first, and smaller one, was that Naruto wasn't sure he had enough room on his back for a third heart; he was still a kid, and not exactly a big one at that (which rankled to admit).

It was the second issue that had him fighting his own kinjutsu's desires. Unlike Kakuzu, who had exchanged hearts (and other organs, he was sure) who knew how many times over the decades and thus was used to the process, integrating a new heart into his own system (if the first two times were any indication) was a process that involved pain and random fluctuations of elemental chakra. Considering the situation he and his teammates were preparing to run into, Naruto needed all of his faculties fully intact if the mission was to be successful.

Through the bond he held with the threads, Naruto felt their hold on the heart slacken. His arms retracted and reconnected to the rest of his body, a single thread re-stitching each limb back in place. _Soon,_ he placated, _you can do what you want in a little bit._ Almost petulantly, they agreed to abide by their master's wishes.

Temporarily, at least.

Naruto turned his attention to Fū, who appeared to be struggling against her remaining opponent. Another lightning bolt streaked through the atmosphere and struck the Taki-nin, but this time it didn't do anything. The man stuck a kunai, crackling with lightning, into and through an earthen wall separating him from Fū, causing the structure to shatter; the kunai was dropped and shattered a moment later, unable to handle the strain of nature manipulation.

The blonde's mouth formed an 'o' in understanding. Fū's opponent was a skilled _**Raiton**_-user, so Harō's sniping attacks wouldn't do much to assist her in ending the fight. And Fū's talents were focused more intently on Earth and Dust Releases, which explained why she was having difficulty retaliating.

Fortunately, Naruto possessed enough raw aptitude with _**Fūton **_ninjutsu that nullifying the last Waterfall ninja would (theoretically) be easy. "Oh, she is _so_ going to owe me," the blonde chirped to himself. He disappeared in a _**Shunshin**_ as the Taki-nin dove forward with another lightning technique.

Naruto reappeared in-between Fū and her opponent, right pointer and middle fingers held up just below his mouth, one in front of the other. A breath of air was exhaled, infused with his chakra; the lightning the Taki-nin was using dispersed. The technique wasn't anything offensive, merely a way for Naruto to eliminate the sparks and prove _**Fūton**_'s superiority over _**Raiton**_. "Yeah, you're screwed now," Naruto taunted as the man stared blankly.

There weren't many times when Naruto was able to so easily flaunt his superiority. His only real associates were an S-class missing-nin and a Jinchūriki who – whether she meant to or not – often one-upped him. Even he would admit that he was still more a student than a master (though it would hurt his pride to say so to anyone else), so the opportunity to show off and just beat the ever-living shit out of someone else was just a boost to his ego.

Kakuzu would say that he didn't need any more pride than he already had, but Naruto felt that that was like the pot calling the kettle black. Of course, Kakuzu also possessed ways to diminish the blonde's self-esteem, whereas all Naruto could do was annoy his teacher. They quite honestly had the worst give-and-take relationship he could ever imagine existing.

But there were more urgent matters to attend to than focusing on his strange student-teacher bond with the ex-Waterfall shinobi (and boy, would _that_ require a lot of analysis). Topping that list was protecting Fū from her former home. Lightning crackled around the Taki-nin's fist, forming a bluish-white sheen over his knuckles shaped like claws. Wind whipped around Naruto's own clenched hand as he prepared the _**Fūton: Senpūken**_.

Both males punched at each other, their fists meeting in a collision of wills. Naruto's Whirlwind Fist overrode whatever lightning jutsu his opponent was using, but the man had more leverage and strength in his attack than the blonde, causing him to realize that he held the disadvantage in that sense.

"Okay, so I was originally going to kick this guy's ass and rub it in your face," he grunted at Fū, struggling to hold his ground against his opponent, "but I think maybe you should take whatever opening I create to just end this."

The Taki-nin fell back at that statement, speeding through hand seals and sending a cluster of lightning darts at the duo. Naruto's hands came together to activate _**Jiongu**_'s Shielding Form, which took the brunt of the attack. A barrier of earth then rose between Naruto and the older man, and the boy took the moment afforded by Fū's helping hand to unsheathe his tantō. The blade glowed blue as he channeled chakra into it, and when the man again broke through Fū's wall, Naruto swung the weapon.

A slicing wave of air was loosed from it, cutting deep into the man's shoulder. He hissed at the contact, but lobbed a ball of electricity in his other hand at Naruto. Surprised at the speed with which the sphere traveled and too close to fully dodge, Naruto took the ninjutsu to his right arm. Paralysis immediately overtook the limb, and the tantō dropped from his numb fingers. _Not good!_

One-handed signs were a talent Naruto had yet to even consider learning, and he could only perform a handful of his most basic techniques without seals. The loss of his limb was definitely a blow.

Trying to shake the feeling back into his arm, Naruto missed the lasso of lightning that bypassed him and wrapped tightly around Fū. The green-haired girl let out a small cry as the malleable weapon shocked her. "Work arm, work!" he muttered, as the Taki-nin leapt for him.

The pleading seemed to do something, though not quite in the way he expected. Naruto's arm went ramrod straight as _**Jiongu**_ forcibly took control of the limb. It elongated to grab the dropped tantō, shifted slightly, and swung upward.

Kisame would've been ashamed at how sloppy his form was. The tantō was being gripped stiffly in his hand, fingers wrapped firmly around the handle and blade pointed straight up. His arm, apparently inflexible and completely unbendable under the control of the kinjutsu, had merely moved in an arc from by his side to just about chin level. That simple movement – and Naruto fought hard not to stare at how awkward it was to watch his body work separately from his mind – buried the blade up to the hilt in the Jōnin's chest. There was a strangled gasping sound, and then nothing.

With the man dead, the paralyzing _**Raiton**_ chakra in Naruto's arm dissipated. "Arm. Back. _Now,_" he demanded. The kinjutsu withdrew its hold over the limb, and the blonde again got the feeling that it was reacting like a kicked puppy. "Thank you," he said aloud, feeling slightly foolish for doing so. The gratitude seemed to appease the threads, for they suddenly felt less…tense. "I will never get used to that," he muttered. It was just too weird having a sentient kinjutsu in his body which either wanted to take control of his faculties or sought approval from him.

No wonder Kakuzu was as deranged as he was. _Screw psychological disorders, he's just nuts from dealing with the threads for decades on end._

A groan from behind him reminded Naruto of Fū's presence. "Ugh, being earth-natured against a lightning-natured opponent sucks," she lamented, rubbing her arms.

"You owe me," he bragged, pointing a thumb at his chest proudly. "I saved your ass."

"Yeah, my hero," she retorted with a roll of her eyes. "I'm sure I'll return the favor someday soon, considering how much trouble you seem to get yourself into."

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki huffed – he most certainly did _not_ pout – at the brush-off. "We'll see." He paused, then, "You're okay, right?" At the girl's nod, he turned around, kneeling down to pull his tantō out from the corpse's chest. "Well, now that this has been taken care of, maybe we should continue with the plan?"

"Tell that to Kakuzu."

Naruto glanced up to see Kakuzu exchanging blows with the masked Taki-nin. "Oi, Kakuzu, aren't you done yet?"

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu would grudgingly admit that Jirō was more talented than he initially gave him credit for. Granted, the Taki-nin's skill wasn't going to be enough to defeat _him_, but it was impressive nonetheless. Unfortunately for Jirō, there were two main factors working against him. One was the obvious age difference, which gave Kakuzu an extra 60 years of experience over his successor.

The other was the fact that Kakuzu was, quite simply, pissed off. And getting in his way when on the warpath was generally considered a surefire ticket to one's untimely death.

There were three root causes for Kakuzu's current wrath: the Hidden Leaf, the Hidden Waterfall, and Naruto. His ire with Konoha stemmed from his loss to the Shodai Hokage at the Valley of the End nearly a lifetime ago. It was a defeat he had never entirely recovered from, a lesson well-learned on foreign shinobi.

Ninja from the Hidden Leaf believed in the Will of Fire, an intangible force which somehow seemed to grant them strength beyond what Kakuzu thought they could normally achieve. The Will of Fire and his encounter with the First Hokage had turned _not_ venturing into Fire Country a habit he wasn't particularly fond of. The former Taki-nin could count on both hands the number of times he had willingly entered the giant land and stayed for an extended period of time before he had met Naruto. Despite the number of tantalizingly high bounties within Konoha's walls, he felt no need to experience a potential repeat performance of the mission that had caused his exile so long ago (even though the odds of someone having obtained the Senju's legendary _kekkei genkai_ and sheer talent seemed incredibly low). Besides, the other Elemental Countries still possessed plenty of high-ranking ninja for him to hunt and test himself against; 'quantity over quality' seemed to apply itself quite readily to his situation.

Understandably then, the mercenary was quite frustrated with not only being in Fire Country, but actually _within_ the main village. Especially since he hadn't been able to actually _do_ anything until Orochimaru had started his thrice-damned invasion. Reading old books and scrolls – while an informative and time-consuming pastime of his – could only hold his interest for so long while cooped up in a hotel room inside a village he hated.

But alas, Konoha was getting its just desserts, even if he wasn't the cause. He could take out his irritation with the Leaf Village by killing Orochimaru; Kakuzu could easily pretend that the Snake Sannin represented the village even though the man no longer held any allegiance to the Leaf. Ironic, that to rid his frustration of Konoha he was going to do away with one of their biggest traitors, but life was funny that way.

On the other hand, Takigakure was a grudge well-deserved and long overdue for retribution. Much like he had with Fire Country, Kakuzu avoided Waterfall Country even more stridently, though for different reasons. Being spotted by a citizen of the Hidden Waterfall would mean they could confirm the fact that he actually was alive; and while the idea of killing any Taki-nin they sent after him was a pleasant one, dealing with said pests would detract from valuable time spent hunting _worthwhile_ bounties.

So hateful of his former home was Kakuzu that he had always forced his one contact within the village – Tamura Tadao, the man who had been killed by Naruto for trying to blackmail him – to meet him far removed from Takigakure proper, normally within Grass Country.

It was really Takigakure's fault that Kakuzu was being presented the opportunity to exact some form of vengeance against it though. …Well, Taki's and Naruto's, but the blonde would reap the consequences of his actions soon enough.

Takigakure was greedy. Plain and simple. The village wished to obtain anything it could get its hands on: power, wealth, information; the list was rather endless. At the very least, the seed that had grown into Kakuzu's avarice had been sown in the early years of Hidden Waterfall's history. Topping that list was the Village Council's goal: to be considered one of the Great Nations of the Elemental Countries. To achieve such a prestigious title – to even hope for a chance at the opportunity – Taki always sent one of their Elders to the Chūnin Exams with the purpose of gathering intelligence on the other Hidden Villages and looking for an opening to rise to greatness. Any weakness in the infrastructure or upbringing of their 'allies' could be exploited, or so thought the Elders. It hardly mattered to them that success had been essentially nonexistent since the village's founding; they were too opportunistic to not take advantage of any opening provided to them. The Chūnin Exams were always a good time to reinforce that mindset, especially since Taki was currently a neutral nation and the risk of spectators being in danger during Chūnin Exams was relatively nonexistent.

Such greed was the reason Kakuzu had been sent on the mission which led to his defection in the first place.

Still, after having suffered through more than a month of being stifled within Konoha – a village he hated – and then being confronted by Taki – a village he absolutely loathed – Kakuzu felt his rage, the nagging homicidal urge which caused him to lose sight of other things, was justified. If Naruto was lucky, the nukenin's temper would be sated with the death of the current _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_ member.

His current headache with the blonde was more based on the fact that if he hadn't felt the need to show off, the Waterfall ninja currently attacking them would have been none-the-wiser to their presence. Half the time, it felt like Naruto purposely disobeyed orders just to rile the mercenary up. On some occasions it took far more control than Kakuzu thought he possessed to not just (try to) kill the blonde and scrap the years put into raising him. But then Naruto would do something impressive or unthinkable – finding a 50-year-old Summoning Contract, or stealing a Jinchūriki from her village without a fight, for instance – and Kakuzu would remember _exactly_ why he put up with the Kyūbi's jailor.

The boy had too much potential to not be steered in a direction Kakuzu could make use of. He would be the bounty hunter's second coming, a reminder of the horrors which inhabited the ninja world. Naruto and Kakuzu were already far too alike for the man to not be curious as to where his disciple would go with his strength.

None of that meant that the little blonde shit was going to get off scot-free for causing this mess, though.

"Oi, Kakuzu, aren't you done yet?"

Kakuzu allowed his left arm to fall off his body – connected by only a single thin thread – to avoid a jet of water shot by his opponent. "Wait your turn, brat," he snarled. "Unless you would rather come over here and say that to my face."

"…I'm good, thanks."

Another stream of water was heading for Kakuzu, and the mercenary chose to dodge it. Naruto could be unbelievably frustrating when he chose to be, and Kakuzu was already trying to prove a point to his opponent –

"Can't you just use _**Doton: Domu**_ or any other earth jutsu to finish this? Why are you dragging this out?"

— which was that he was the superior _**Suiton**_ expert. "Cease your incessant talking _right now _or I will make sure your death is as _excruciatingly painful as possible._" With no response forthcoming, Kakuzu returned his attention to Jirō, eyes narrowed. "As annoying as it is to admit, my student does have a point. Your time has come…it is truly a pity that the only shinobi Takigakure produced who is worth something is me."

"If that's what you want to believe," commented Jirō, forming seals. Water erupted from the ground, surrounding Kakuzu and encasing him in the same solid shell Naruto had been stuck in, except this time there was no opening. The hand signs continued. "I've been the only _**Nami no **__**Kōtō **_since you to master using hardened water. And I've taken it to levels beyond a mere sword. Goodbye Kakuzu."

Whatever it was Jirō expected to happen, it wasn't the collapse of his water 'cage'. Kakuzu smirked at the slight slump present in his enemy's shoulders, his hands held palms out in front of him. "You seem disappointed. Surely you were aware that as the creator of hardened water, I would know how to disable it." The man's silence was answer enough for the bounty hunter. "This has been amusing, but I tire of this game. _**Suiton: Bakusui Sh**__**ōha**_; Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave." Kakuzu spewed a torrent of water from his mouth, controlling it so it flowed directly towards Jirō.

Naruto was silently impressed by the display. Whereas Kisame vomited a flood of the liquid and then rode the cascading waves to attack his opponent – as Naruto was well aware from experience – Kakuzu seemed to bend a more controllable amount of water to his will, forcing it to do as he wanted; in this case, using a powerful river of liquid. The difference probably arose from the two men's attack style – Kisame often followed up the _**Bakusui Sh**__**ōha**_ with ninjutsu that required volume – but seeing Kakuzu's manipulation was pretty cool, especially considering most of the nukenin's favorite attacks were other large displays of power. Maybe he _was_ as skilled with the element as he professed to be.

Jirō held out his hands, swiftly turning the leading water into a hardened version of the _**Suijinheki**_; the rest of Kakuzu's attack flowed around the barrier. Kakuzu rushed forward and punched the shield, shattering it as if it were ice. Spikes of hardened water stabbed him through the chest, but he collapsed into the liquid – a _**Mizu Bunshin**_. Jirō ducked instinctively, narrowly avoiding the decapitating slice of Kakuzu's Watercutting Sword.

The Taki-nin placed his hands on the ground, calling up a box of hardened water to surround his predecessor. Knowing Kakuzu would escape, he jumped back and began running through seals. Water rose and swirled around his arm, hardening into a drill with his arm in the center. The box surrounding Kakuzu collapsed, the nukenin already starting his own set of seals. "_**Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri**_," he intoned as Jirō charged him, "Water Release: Rising Water Slicer." A jet of water burst forth from the ground, and Jirō was forced to jump to avoid being bisected.

Kakuzu smirked. "Fool. _**Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu;**_ Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique." The water surrounding Kakuzu from his earlier techniques rose up in a vortex, moving towards the airborne Jirō. He manipulated the hardened water around his hand, quickly turning his drill into a convex shield which he held out in front of him. His shield absorbed the majority of the blow as Kakuzu directed his ninjutsu at him, completely drenching him and following an arced curvature directly into the ground.

As the pounding of the veritable waterfall stopped, Kakuzu stepped forward slowly. Jirō was bent on one knee, gasping in great breaths of air, his mask floating beside him. Standing out of the man's reach, Kakuzu lengthened his arm and allowed it to grab the porcelain sign of the _**Gogyō Go-Kō**_. His arm came back, allowing him to turn the object over in his hands. "Did you know that wearing this was once a symbol of pride for me?" Kakuzu mentioned loftily. "Striving to achieve the title of the first _**Nami no **__**Kōtō**_ drove me to risk everything for my village.

"And for what? Imprisonment. Betrayal. Exile. They turned their backs on me in my time of need…and now look where they have left you. The chain has come full circle, and now you sit here, serving a council which has all but signed your death warrant with their greed. Tell me, how does it feel to walk in the shoes of the most reviled man to have come from Takigakure?"

"I'm nothing like you!" spat Jirō. "_**Takigakure Ryū: Aian Meiden!**_" Two halves of a coffin – spikes lining the interior – rose as hardened water and closed around Kakuzu. A moment later, the spikes jutted out the front and back of the iron maiden, having grown and completely impaled its inhabitant.

Naruto's eyes widened at the swiftness of the man's brutality. _Kakuzu…_

The sound of laughter caught everyone's attention. Kakuzu rose from the water as a liquidy mass, quickly solidifying into his human form. He clenched and unclenched his right hand, as if testing the fingers. "Hm, an interesting expansion of the style. That certainly would have killed me, was I not years beyond your experience."

"You escaped that?"

Kakuzu snorted. "You sound surprised. I already informed you that you are nothing compared to me."

Truth be told, Kakuzu didn't like the fact that his successor possessed as much talent with his former specialty as he seemed to. In a battle where he wasn't trying to prove his superiority, Jirō would've already been dead, taken down by _**Jiongu**_, _**Raiton**_, _**Doton**_, or some combination of the three. As it was, limiting himself to only _**Suiton**_ caused Kakuzu to play things a bit more cautiously, abusing Water Clones and the Hidden in Water Technique to lure out any surprises that he would normally just allow to be triggered with his active Earth Spear technique.

It made him immensely glad that it was only his replica which had been killed in his opponent's Iron Maiden technique and not him.

"Look at you, forced to go up against a man far your superior and now facing death. You are more like me than you realize. Unfortunately for you, I already have an apprentice who will walk in my footsteps." He performed two seals, causing a spike of hardened water to rise and spear toward Jirō from the front. The Taki-nin flopped sideways to avoid it, but a second spike behind him tore through the base of his spinal cord and out his stomach. "Die as you lived, you wretched fool, blind to your own ignorance. To think you believed you could actually kill me…the arrogance of the Hidden Waterfall never ceases to amaze me." There was no response, but then again, he didn't expect one.

"Well it's about time Kakuzu! Here I thought – hgrk!"

Kakuzu reeled Naruto in close with his extended arm, his fingers digging into the blonde's throat. "Give me _one_ good reason not to kill you, you little shit."

Naruto thrashed about in his teacher's grasp, facing slowly changing colors. His finger pointed to a spot at Kakuzu's 8 o'clock position. "Getting…away…" he rasped.

The nukenin placed one of his hearts within his arm, completely detaching it at the bicep and letting it scuttle over to where Arakawa Daisuke was trying to hobble away. The appendage knocked away the man's cane, grabbing his ankle and allowing the threads coming out of the severed limb to wrap around the elder's body. Without even turning around, Kakuzu said, "His retribution will come. You, on the other hand, single-handedly jeopardized our mission with your wanton desire to win a match against a Genin for a promotion which you will never receive. So I ask again, _a reason not to end your pathetic existence?_"

Naruto's face was already a mottled blue from lack of oxygen when Fū stepped forward and suggested, "Maybe you should let him go so we can use him for the mission?"

Kakuzu looked at her and then dropped the blonde. "You are fortunate that at least someone finds you useful." Naruto, flat on his back and catching his breath, decided the appropriate response was to flip his teacher the bird; Kakuzu walked past him and stomped on his stomach, causing a spluttering gasp to escape the boy's throat. "You never learn," he droned, a sadistic grin playing along his lips.

"And now we're even," Fū whispered to Naruto as Kakuzu moved over to Daisuke.

The bounty hunter soon found himself standing before the elderly man. He held out the stump of his arm, allowing the limb to reattach to his body. "Esteemed Elder," he mocked, "you seem to have taken a mighty fall."

"You killed my grandfather!" Daisuke hissed violently.

"The death of gnats means absolutely nothing to me."

"Your retribution will come one day, Takahashi Kakuzu, mark my words!"

Kakuzu laughed violently at that proclamation. "You sicked your loyal dog on me, one of the Five Elements, and he could not touch me while I limited myself to only one chakra nature. What do you expect the rest of the village to do against me, assuming they even realize it was I who killed you? Rest assured that if my time does come one day, it will not be by your hand." He held out his hand, creating the Watercutting Sword. "When you get to Hell, give your back-stabbing grandfather my regards." The nukenin chuckled darkly as he swiped the blade perpendicular to the ground, severing the man's neck.

All of the angry tension Kakuzu held suddenly disappeared with the man's decapitation. It was almost cathartic, the murder of influential people from his former village, even if their generation hadn't done anything against him directly until this point. The last time he had truly enjoyed killing someone for the sake of it – not for money, but simply for himself – had been a _very_ long time ago. His laughter – low and dark, sadistic and mocking – was not an oft heard sound, simply because Kakuzu found few people who said or did something which truly amused his peculiar sense of humor.

Even Naruto's antics rarely stimulated Kakuzu's funny bone, though he did find some of the blonde's more spur-of-the-moment barbs and retorts an ironic mixture of amusing and frustrating, if only because he chose the worst times to incense Kakuzu's ire.

Kakuzu looked up at the main watchtower. "The barrier is gone," he noted as Harō appeared from the stands. He shot Naruto a dirty look. "This distraction has cost us. There is no telling what sort of lead Orochimaru now has." The bounty hunter paused, scanning the three disguised Rain Genin. "When we find him – and we _will_ find him – hold nothing back." His unusual eyes focused a bit more intently on Naruto when he said that. "Either give it your all, or be prepared to die."

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Awesome." This was the opportunity he was looking for to finally use his entire arsenal of abilities. Limiting himself during the course of the Chūnin Exams to more easily keep their cover was rather annoying, and he was looking forward to actually showing his teammates and teacher just what he could do. "So," he said, bending his knees to jump off the ground, "you really _are_ good with _**Suiton**_ ninjutsu."

"I was not the first _**Nami no **__**Kōtō **_for arbitrary reasons."

"…That's a terrible name. You really need to stop saying it. Unh," he grunted as Kakuzu punched him in the back of the head, causing him to lose his balance mid-jump.

"You should learn not to antagonize your betters."

The porcelain mask of Takigakure's Surging Wave lay on the ground, all but broken in half from when Kakuzu's Water Clone had been caught in the Iron Maiden technique. Kakuzu cast one last glance at it, wondering if it was more symbolic or ominous. He pumped chakra to his legs and sped forward, only uttering, "Catch up when you can," to his subordinates as he moved onward.

-l-l-l-

Orochimaru had not lived for half a century by taking risks. Certainly there had been times when his life had been at stake because of his own arrogance, but for the most part, he had things planned well enough in advance that all eventualities could be accounted for. Even then, all those times could essentially be summed up on one hand.

The fight against Hanzō the Salamander during the Second Great Shinobi World War with his two teammates Jiraiya and Tsunade could be considered one of his failings. There was little doubt in his (or his two teammates') mind that if it weren't for Hanzō's…generosity…he would be dead. It was then and there that his team had been bequeathed with the title of Sannin, and also the time when he had decided to begin research into immortality.

The discovery of his secret laboratory by his sensei was also a bit of a loss, though a relatively small one because he had taken into account being found out at some point. That had led to his defection from Konoha and his initiation into Akatsuki, where his dreams had started to come to fruition.

Then he had gotten blindsided by his ambition to learn all the jutsu in the world and tried to take over new recruit Uchiha Itachi's body for its _kekkei genkai_. That had been a massive failure, forcing him to abandon his affiliation with the criminal organization and switch into a new body to regain the use of his left hand. Again though, he had been able to turn that into a positive with the addition of the more-than-capable Yakushi Kabuto to his staff and the founding of Otogakure to further his experiments, research, and expansion of power.

So when the time came to finally enact his plan to destroy Konoha, Orochimaru took no chances. He enlisted the aid of Sunagakure to increase the invasion's forces, as well as making sure that Gaara, the Jinchūriki to Ichibi no Shukaku, would play an intricate part in causing mayhem, thus distracting a large portion of Konoha's soldiers. His personal guard, the Sound Four, would box himself and his former sensei within the _**Shishienjin**_ – the Four Violet Flames Battle Encampment – to ensure that the Hokage's death at his former pupil's hand was an uninterrupted affair. He had even gone so far as to kill the Yondaime Kazekage and assume the man's position to both guarantee the unquestionable cooperation of the Sand shinobi and to get closer to the Hokage.

It was rather shocking to discover just how badly the best laid plans could turn out.

Kabuto, at least, had played his part perfectly, knocking out the majority of Konoha's forces (though most were citizens) with _**Nehan Shōja no Jutsu**_. That, perhaps, had been the only part of the plan that had gone off without a hitch. Gaara had prematurely tried to summon Shukaku because of Sasuke-kun (and here Orochimaru was unsure whether to feel blessed that his vessel-to-be was so strong or frustrated that the boy had ruined his invasion), which had resulted in him being removed from the stadium by his siblings. Then, after being caged within the _**Shishienjin**_, he had failed to revive the Yondaime Hokage alongside the Shodai and Nidaime.

That in itself wasn't _too_ terrible, simply because while the Yellow Flash was indeed an amazing shinobi, Orochimaru didn't believe that Sarutobi-sensei – at his advanced age – could stand up to his two predecessors _and_ himself. But again, the Snake Sannin had been surprised when his former teacher had activated a jutsu he – _him_, the searcher of all jutsu! – had never heard of.

Orochimaru cursed his own arrogance and foolhardiness as the technique activated. The darkness cast from the Shodai's _**Kokuangyo no Jutsu**_ was disappearing, which could only mean that the man had somehow been defeated. How, Orochimaru didn't know, since _**Edo Tensei**_ was supposed to be an undefeatable technique (for all intents and purposes), but he was _not_ willing to risk his life to see what it was.

He lost a grip of the legendary sword Kusanagi in an exchange of blows with the Sandaime, but restrained Enma the Monkey King with a well-timed _**Sen'eijashu**_. That opening allowed the Hokage to grab and restrain him. "No!" he hissed. Moving two of his fingers, he gestured Kusanagi from where it lay.

Kirigakure taught members of its Assassination Squad the eight vital points of the human body: liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys, and heart. Orochimaru personally preferred the heart because it was relatively instantaneous and he enjoyed seeing the expression on his victim's face as they died.

He levitated the blade out of the reach of Enma as the monkey grabbed for it, slicing cleanly into the Sandaime's heart. There was a moment where the old man looked at him, slightly stunned…then he coughed up a globule of blood and fell over, dead. Enma disappeared along with the snakes entangling him and the Sannin breathed a silent sigh of relief. The feeling of…cold…and death…permeated his stomach where _something_ – the jutsu, he presumed – had dug in.

Some things were far too close to comfort.

Orochimaru signaled the Sound Four to drop the barrier, allowing the ANBU waiting outside it to rush them. Kidōmaru shot a web of chakra-enhanced netting at them, ensnaring them within its confines as Orochimaru withdrew his sword from the Hokage's corpse. "Ku ku ku. Foolish old man…first you fell, and now your village will be next. Come," he beckoned to his subordinates, "we should find Gaara and bring him back to properly continue with the plan."

The quintet took off, leaping from one building to the next and avoiding the triple-headed snake that was wreaking havoc upon Konoha's infrastructure. Orochimaru smirked at the thought of the ruin his former village would be in once the rest of his plan finished playing out. Aside from the Hokage (dead), the other two Sannin (neither of whom were in the village), and potentially Danzō (and who knew where _he_ was), there was no one in Konoha who could stand up to the Snake Sannin.

So when he sensed the presence of a powerful chakra signature approaching from behind at a fast pace, he was…curious. Outrunning the source was a possibility, except that at some point the Sannin would be forced to stop to restrain Gaara, allowing his pursuer to catch up. Orochimaru preferred to fight on his own terms, so he signaled his subordinates to halt and then waited.

Only a minute passed before Orochimaru and the Sound Four were confronted by a large man with shoulder-length brown hair, a partially stitched mouth, and eyes that reminded the Sannin uncomfortably of Hanzō's. "Orochimaru," intoned the man.

"Ah, so you are aware of who I am…how intriguing," he replied with a quiet chuckle. "Tell me," he continued, noticing the color of the flak jacket worn by the man, "what does a lowly Jōnin from the Hidden Rain think he can do against the likes of me?"

The man stripped off the Jōnin vest and the long-sleeved black shirt he wore under it, leaving him in a sleeveless deep blue top with a white sash wrapped around his waist. Bandages covered his arms from elbow to wrist, though Orochimaru's serpentine eyes narrowed at the stitch-like markings that decorated the man's shoulders and biceps. "I belong to no village," he corrected. "My name is Kakuzu, and I am here to kill you on Akatsuki's orders."

"Ku ku ku, so my former partners have finally seen fit to eliminate me, have they? And yet, your lack of ring implies that you're not even a member. How amusing you are." Kakuzu frowned internally at the brush-off. It would've been unrealistic to expect the former Leaf-nin to show some form of fear at his presence, but such an easy dismissal of Kakuzu's intention implied that the man was completely unconcerned with his presence. The bounty hunter couldn't say for sure whether Orochimaru actually knew of him – he tried to keep his presence hidden from the majority of the world, but the underground was a completely different place – but the fact that _Akatsuki_ had sent him should've at least instilled some form of hesitation in his prey. After all, Kakuzu's strength was nothing to sneeze at.

A wicked grin crossed Orochimaru's features. "Kill him," he ordered before turning around and leaping into the trees. Kakuzu said nothing as the four shinobi serving as Orochimaru's guard surrounded him. They looked to be getting into formation for some sort of barrier jutsu, and the former Taki-nin had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

"_**Fūton: Daitoppa!**_"

Kakuzu stood his ground as a great burst of wind swept through the area, throwing three of the four Sound shinobi off their feet (the orange-haired one was apparently heavy enough to withstand the gale). "It took you long enough," he stated without even looking back.

"Yeah, _so_ sorry about that," griped Naruto. The blonde landed behind his teacher, Fū to his left and Harō to his right. "Have _you_ ever tried keeping up with you?"

"The idiocy of that statement deserves no response," Kakuzu replied curtly. "Orochimaru took off already. Take care of his minions while I land the big prize." With that, he disappeared into the forest before any of the Oto-nin could catch him.

Naruto watched him go, intent on proving to the older man that he was an asset even if Kakuzu wasn't around to witness it. His gaze then turned to the four shinobi opposite his team. The closest to him was a heavy-set boy with a strange orange mohawk hairdo. Behind him was a red-haired girl donned in a black cap, a dark-skinned boy with six arms, and a pale-skinned boy with bluish-grey hair and some sort of deformity – which looked strangely like a second head – sprouting from his neck. All of them wore clothing of a neutral color, accented awkwardly (in Naruto's opinion) by a ridiculous purple bow tied around their waists. Taking the initiative, he shouted, "I call the fat one!"

Almost simultaneously, the Oto-nin knelt to the ground and lifted up a massive oblong piece of earth, uprooting a number of trees in the process. Naruto watched with wide eyes, mentally trying to figure out exactly _how_ such a feat was even possible.

Then the huge stretch of earth was thrown at him. "Trade!" he yelped, leaping away.

There was a discharge of lightning that bypassed Naruto and struck the earth jutsu, blowing a hole in the center of the dirt and causing it to explode into large – but more easily avoidable – chunks. Much of the surrounding foliage toppled over as a result. The blonde glanced backwards to find Harō staring down the _**Doton**_-user. "It looks like I'll have the advantage in this fight," the Rain rebel informed him. "I hope you can handle two of them."

"Sounds fair," Naruto replied with a grin, sufficiently over his momentary panic. After being saved by Kakuzu in his prior two-on-one (two-and-a-half, technically) fight, the Jinchūriki was eager to take on the same challenge with a more positive outlook. And if he didn't have to fight the fat boy – Jirōbō, judging by the bickering between him and the red-head (Tayuya, apparently) – the more power to him. Naruto wasn't stupid enough to believe that he had the advantage in that fight after witnessing the uplifting of the land, what with his chakra affinities being unsuited for the battle and his physical strength nowhere near the Oto-nin's. Harō at least had the benefit of being elementally superior to Jirōbō.

A quick peek to the left showed that Fū was squaring off against the pale-skinned boy with the weird protrusion, leaving him with the multi-armed boy and Tayuya. "Let's see what you two got," he commented with a grin.

"Fucking piece of trash," shot Tayuya. "Kidōmaru, if you can't take care of him while I prepare my melody, you're even more useless than fatass over there."

"Heh, no worries. It'll be game over for him while you're busy fooling around," smirked the multi-armed boy. "Let's play a little game, blondie." Then his cheeks bulged. "_**Kumo Shibari**_; Spider Bind!"

Naruto pointed at the large web as it was emitted from the Oto-nin's mouth. "Ew," he whined, "that's just disgusting." He used the _**Kawarimi**_ to escape out of the netting's range by switching with a nearby rock from the fat Oto-nin's first assault.

"Oh, a mobile opponent, eh?" mused Kidōmaru. "I guess we'll up the difficulty level a bit. _**Kumo Sōka!**_" This time, instead of a wide net of spider silk, the multi-armed boy spat out conical-shaped webs at a rapid rate, forcing Naruto to dance around to avoid them. He was doing fairly well until the projectiles seemed to multiply in midair. With one of them heading straight for his chest – and unable to effectively dodge thanks to the surplus surrounding him – he withdrew his tantō, applied wind chakra, and sliced downward.

It passed right through, causing the image of the webbing to fade away. _Genjutsu!_ He quickly brought his hands up – dropping the tantō tip-first into the ground so as to not stab himself – and focused on stopping his chakra. "_Kai!"_ Half of the spider webs disappeared. "Hah! I broke through one by myself!" His victory was short-lived when one web wrapped itself around his left leg, another plastering his clasped hands to his chest. "Son of a – I _hate_ genjutsu!"

"Well, it looks like you're not even a main character," taunted Kidōmaru. He reached into his mouth and pulled out six strings of golden spit which he bit off. They formed into spikes of hardened material, one end curved into a wicked tip. Kidoōmaru grinned wickedly. "Game over."

"Not yet," Naruto muttered through clenched teeth. With no other recourse forthcoming, Naruto was forced to put his faith in his kinjutsu. _Help me,_ he willed of the threads, _I can't do this by myself._

'Finally', the kinjutsu seemed to agree. As the first golden spike neared him, _**Jiongu**_'s threads popped out of the markings on his wrists, forming a net pattern in front of his body which caught the projectile. Naruto heaved a sigh of relief, which caught in his throat as the next five barbed spikes impacted the thread barrier. It was nice to know that the forms of _**Jiongu **_he used could be called upon without the specified seal, but only by relinquishing his control over the threads and leaving them to their own devices. That was another item he would have to add to his growing list of things to work on in the future…right now, he had bigger issues.

Struggling against the bonds of the webbing, the blonde channeled his chakra along the threads, directing it to cut through the binding silk. He was a bit surprised at the effort it took to sever the spit-turned-spider-webs. Normally his wind affinity was enough to cleanly divide any material it came into contact with. The resistance could only be caused by chakra in the silk, making it strong enough to put up a fight against the sharpest of the five elements. _Note to self,_ he thought as the webbing finally gave way, _avoid getting caught again._

"Fucking useless spider-shit, can't you do anything right?" leered Tayuya.

"I don't see you doing much," retorted Kidōmaru.

_Now!_ Naruto ran forward, picking up the tantō he had dropped when his hands had been bound, and leaped into the trees. With a burst of speed and a short _**Shunshin**_, Naruto found himself right next to the spider-like boy. One application of wind chakra to the blade of his weapon and a slicing motion later found the Oto-nin's head separated from the rest of his body.

Or at least, that's how Naruto had pictured it going. What he _hadn't_ expected was for the top six inches of his blade to break off from the rest and soar in a tall arc above his head. Stunned, he only caught the words '_**Nenkin no Yoroi**_' and 'impenetrable' before two fists sent him flying through the air. Instinct told him to move, so he twisted, activating a _**Fūton: Reppūshō**_ directed upward to shoot him towards the ground.

A long skewer of golden metal – the same as the spikes – passed through the area he had just blown himself from.

_**Jiongu**_ lashed out, wrapping around the gold material and allowing Naruto to swing to a low-hanging tree bough. "Okay, this is clearly not going as smoothly as I thought," he admitted, looking despondently at the hilt of his tantō. He would need to get a new weapon at some point now, something he was sure Kakuzu would look at as a waste of money. "I just can't catch a break." Through his bond with the threads, he felt them offer the equivalent of agreement. Though he could feel they wanted to truly let loose and wreak havoc, they stilled, waiting for his command. He silently placated them for what felt like the umpteenth time that day, knowing that he would probably need the kinjutsu's assistance to beat the two Sound shinobi.

Naruto glanced up in time to see the smoke surrounding his opponents dispersing. _When did that happen?_ Blue eyes widened in shock as they took in the new arrivals. All three were at least 30 feet tall and barefoot, with the same fashion-senseless purple bow tied in varying methods around their waists. One of them was bandaged from head to waist, armless, with its head seemingly inverted on its body and full of long, needle-like injections; it wore calf-length brown pants and its mouth was sewn shut. The second one wore a dark bodysuit with brown, leather-like material protecting its ankles, wrists, and groin; its face was completely covered by long grayish-brown hair and a giant partially-bandaged metal club was slung lazily over one shoulder. The last one was a shirtless, hulking figure with a blindfold tied around its eyes and a stitched mouth like the first one. Bandages were wrapped around protective spiked gauntlets on its wrists, one spike protruding along its arms and reaching its shoulders, two others curving over its hands. It was clothed in black pants and a brown skirt-like piece, set over shin-guards; the most disturbing part were the vein-like scars covering its bald head, a long, thin goatee and even longer sideburns accenting its oddity. "My _Doki_ will be the last thing you ever see, you filthy piece of trash," crowed Tayuya. She lifted the flute – _Where the hell did _that _come from? _– to her lips. "The third verse, the Rampage of the Forsaken!"

"I _really_ can't catch a fucking break," Naruto moaned. He threw the broken remnant of his tantō at Tayuya, but the one _Doki_'s club came up and blocked it. Music made its way to his ears, and then the three creatures moved. The blonde dropped to the forest floor as the armless one headbutted through the branch he just vacated, then performed a back-flip to avoid the spikes of the bald _Doki_'s gauntlet. He was underground in the next instant via _**Moguragakure no Jutsu**_, barely evading the club of the third creature. "Well, this could be better. Time to change my strategy."

Naruto popped up from the ground several dozen feet away from his previous position, already flashing through seals. Focused on his task, he took a golden kunai-shaped weapon to the shoulder. Grimacing, more from surprise than pain, he vaguely registered _**Jiongu**_ pulling out the weapon before swiping his thumb across the wound and slamming his palm onto the ground. "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**_"

Beside him appeared a five foot (eight, including the tail) bright red chameleon, its bumpy skin mottled with yellow spots. His name was Kamegōka, and unlike the majority of his clan, he lacked the rather useful ability to camouflage and transform himself. But Naruto was okay with that, since the red chameleon had a far more interesting trait which the blonde had discovered years ago upon acquainting himself with his summons.

Kamegōka could breathe fire.

And Naruto was naturally wind-natured.

_Game on, bitches._ The chameleon exhaled a stream of fire at his surroundings while the blonde performed more seals. "_**Fūton: Tsuyoi Kaze Hadō**_; Wind Release: Powerful Wind Wave!" A wide blade of chakra-tinted wind slammed into the other elemental attack.

Everything exploded in flames.

Naruto grinned as he wiped more blood from the wound on his shoulder and used another Summoning Technique. The collaboration, while powerful and exhilarating to behold, was merely a decoy to hide his actions from view…which it was successfully doing, if the wide swath of flames was any indication.

Another chameleon appeared, this one smaller than Kamegōka, its length closer to Naruto's height than anything else. The Jinchūriki whispered to it (awkward, considering chameleons had no ears…how did his summons hear him anyway?), and the reptile immediately became invisible.

The iron club of Tayuya's summon smashed through the wall of fire in front of Naruto. "Better back up to the trees for now, 'Gōka," he advised. The chameleon didn't argue, moving onto a nearby trunk and ascending into the higher branches as fast as it could.

Naruto took a second to glance at his surroundings. Most of the surrounding foliage was burning, smoldering, or charred, leaving him on the edge of a half-dead clearing. Kidōmaru had moved further away to escape the collaboration assault, though Tayuya was unmoved, flute still at her lips.

He was glad to see that practicing his timing with Kamegōka had paid off. While he appreciated the simplicity and variability of both the _**Reppūshō**_ and _**Daitoppa**_ – staples for Wind Release manipulation in his book – the _**Tsuyoi Kaze Hadō **_was in another class entirely, using a broad sweep of _sharp_ wind chakra that the other two techniques didn't utilize. Now that his team wasn't trying to remain inconspicuous, he could let loose with some of his more…destructive maneuvers. Even the kinjutsu within his body was itching to unleash its full potential. "Bring it on, you pansies!"

"Hehe, so the challenger wants a stronger opponent, eh?" Kidōmaru mocked. His middle two arms formed a small web between them as the Oto-nin bit his thumb and went through the same hand signs Naruto had just performed twice. "First to kill him wins the grand prize, Tayuya! _**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**_"

The smoke cleared to reveal the multi-armed boy sitting atop a giant spider. "I'm not interested in your games, spider-shit," spat Tayuya. "Let's just take out this fucking kid." Dark markings crawled along their skin and their chakra spiked.

Then they began to metamorphose before Naruto's very eyes

-l-l-l-

There were times when Fū wished _**Doton**_ was more of an offensive element.

"_**Tarenken!"**_

"_**Doton: Doryūheki!**_"

Not that it wasn't keeping her _alive_ against Sakon, as several fast punches plowed through the hastily erected wall and sent her skidding backwards a number of feet. Really, she appreciated how subtle earth manipulation was, what with its ability to both augment offense (Kakuzu's use of the Earth Spear technique was enough evidence of that) and create a solid defense. And of course she knew that Earth Release had its own form of truly offensive attacks – hard-hitting ones too, what with boulders and rocks being the primary useable items in head-on assaults – but still, was it too much to ask for an element with the reputation of _**Raiton **_or _**Fūton**_?

Granted, she did _have_ some Wind Release affinity, but her talent with it arose from the Nanabi's presence and was only a little better than Naruto's current aptitude for Earth Release ninjutsu. She supposed that her biggest offensive arsenal came from her mastery of _**Jinton**_, but that was based off of water's flowing form, which, aside from _**Doton**_, was the least 'offensive' element (Kakuzu's skill with the liquid be damned…water still held no candle to fire, wind, or lightning with respect to raw, destructive power).

Needless to say, she was a bit frustrated with her current predicament. It was one thing to go against Genin in a one-on-one fashion with mastery over an element (which was more than most of them could say); it was another to fight someone of unknown rank with skills more practical for a supporting role than a front-line fighter.

She would have to work on that. Fighting independently was something she would have to get used to. Something her opponent – correction, _opponents_, plural – firmly did not believe in.

If nothing else, Sakon liked to talk. Apparently, the weird protrusion at the base of his neck was the head of his brother, who lived inside him per their _kekkei genkai_. Fū wasn't entirely sure _she'd_ be comfortable with such an arrangement, but it seemed to work for them. Their bloodline limit allowed the merged brother to send out his body parts from anywhere on the other sibling's body, providing multiple punches and kicks where only one could be used from a regular opponent.

On top of that, it created few openings for Fū to take advantage of in a taijutsu battle. Even when there were opportunities, Fū's fighting style was completely negated by the Oto-nin; it was as if he knew the bastardized version of _**Rakanken**_ that was her core style. And then there was Sakon's speed, which clearly outclassed her own.

It left her on the wrong end of a fight that was far too much close combat for her liking. What she needed was some sort of massive turning point.

Sakon was charging her again. Fū's mind went blank, but her hands moved. "_**Doton: Yomi Numa!"**_ The ground in front of her turned into mud, which the Oto-nin ran straight into. Curses flew from his mouth as he tried to trudge through the swamp.

Then again, maybe _**Doton**_ wasn't so bad after all…

"Damn it Sakon, I've warned you about playing around." The green-haired girl froze as a pair of shoulders, then arms, then a back emerged from Sakon, all attached to the second head.

"Sorry Ukon, you know how I like to play with my food."

"It's okay, brother. I could probably use the exercise anyway." Ukon – identical in almost every way to Sakon, barring the part of his bangs and the lack of a necklace – smirked wickedly at Fū. Using the stuck sibling as a springboard, Ukon jumped over the Swamp of the Underworld and landed in front of Fū. "Boo." The Jinchūriki brought up her arms to block as Ukon connected with a punch.

"Nngh." On the one hand, Fū was grateful that it hadn't been three or four hits Sakon had been capable of while Ukon was still merged with him. On the other hand, once the other brother was free from the swamp, it would be two-on-one. She focused on gathering dust particles in the air as Ukon practically danced her backwards. Once she felt enough was surrounding them, Fū ducked a high kick and placed her hands together, calling out, "_**Jinton: Hai no Chissoku!**_"

Ukon clutched his throat as a cloud of dust swarmed his head, laboring his breathing. Fū Body Flickered away from him, sliding the red cylinder from her back and emptying it of umbrellas. Dust Release: Suffocating Ash was not exactly an offensive technique (and in fact could be considered more of a genjutsu with how exaggerated the effects were in comparison to what it actually did), but its main purpose was to stall.

She mounted the cylinder on her shoulder, open end facing her opponent. Despite her lack of ability with Wind Release, she had perfected one somewhat powerful technique. It required a short time to fully prepare, and the distraction afforded by the Suffocating Ash was definitely a favorable element. Chakra tinged a pale orange built up in the empty space of the cylinder. She closed one eye to take better aim. "Take this! _**Fūton: Taihō ni Uta!**_" A ball of wind chakra was blown out of the cylinder, targeted on a straight path for Ukon. "Wind Release: Cannon Shot!"

Unlike Naruto, who preferred to use his skill with wind to make it sharp and slicing, Fū preferred the blunt, pummeling force of 'solid' air, like the Great Breakthrough technique (when she used the element). It matched the style of Earth Release much better, which was her comfort zone. _**Taihō ni Uta **_essentially took all the blunt power of _**Daitoppa**_ and condensed it into a single orb. It didn't come close to covering the same area as the other ninjutsu (which was why the distraction was necessary, to actually _hit_ the target), but it packed a much harder punch when it hit.

Fū wasn't entirely sure what effect it would have on a human, since Harō had dodged all of her attacks while she had been practicing it, but it had punched through at least four trees before she had lost sight of it, which Fū chose to take as a good sign.

As it was, the ball of wind chakra drove into Ukon's stomach with all the force of a sledgehammer, carrying him over the swamp his brother was trapped in. The Nanabi Jinchūriki withheld a cry of success as Sakon shouted for his sibling.

Fū's victory was cut short as Ukon stood unsteadily, a trickle of blood leaking from his mouth. Either Sakon and Ukon had thick skin, or humans were a bit more resistant to the blunt effects of wind chakra than trees were. Whichever the answer was, Fū was not happy to see Ukon awake. "Clever bitch," snarled the Oto-nin, "but now you're gonna die! Sakon, go to Level 2!"

The former Taki-nin could only stare in growing trepidation as the brothers' chakra multiplied, their skin overcome by evil orange-yellow markings. _Something tells me this wasn't the turning point I was looking for…_

-l-l-l-

Harō did not like straightforward combat. He was trained more for reconnaissance and long-range assassinations, and while he could strike – and kill – with pressure points, it wasn't his preferred method of fighting. Case in point, his fight against Jirōbō was not going as well as he would've liked.

His pressure point taijutsu style was proving to be ineffective against the Oto-nin. Part of it was probably the boy's bulk, which gave him an advantage against the pinpoint strikes of Harō's fingers, but the cobalt-haired boy thought it was more than that. After all, the first strike he had landed had worked as it should have. But following that, the next several strikes had proven ineffective, and Harō had taken a powerful knee to the gut for his trouble.

The Oto-nin's sudden resistance to Harō's taijutsu had only one real explanation: he was negating the blows. _**Kyūsho-jutsu**_ could be blocked, for lack of a better word, by flexing the targeted area at the right moment. Judging by Jirōbō's talent with taijutsu – which looked a lot like Fū's style, if smoother (and perhaps was the only reason Harō was able to avoid it as well as he had thus far) – it wasn't a completely farfetched idea to believe that he could read Harō's attacks. He was actually mildly impressed.

It was _bad_, of course, but impressive regardless.

About the only thing working for the Ame-nin was his elemental advantage. He was trying to dispense as little chakra as possible with his lightning techniques, but Jirōbō was making that rather difficult with his arsenal of large (and thus unavoidable) earth techniques. Harō had already resorted to eating one of his soldier pills, having been forced to blow through some sort of chakra-draining earthen dome.

The plus side, he guessed, was that since they were both having little luck with taijutsu, Jirōbō was burning through his chakra with ninjutsu as quickly as Harō was. Except that Harō still had two soldier pills to supplement his reserves, while the Oto-nin did not. That just left formulating a strategy to actually kill his opponent.

Harō blasted through another large boulder with a _**Raikyū**_. In front of him was a flat wall of earth, so the boy channeled chakra into his swords, firing a beam of lightning straight through it and hopefully through his opponent. When the wall collapsed, Harō saw only a large hole in the ground. Grey eyes widened in surprise, and he whirled around –

"_**Hōshō!**_" Jirōbō grunted, thrusting his palm forward into Harō's stomach.

The cobalt-haired boy gagged at the impact and was sent soaring backwards. His back hit a tree and he coughed blood. Wincing, Harō pulled himself upright with help from his swords, firing a burst of lightning at the slowly approaching Jirōbō, which was avoided. He swallowed the second of his three soldier pills, relaxing slightly as his chakra was replenished. _Now, I need a plan…_

"I'm getting hungry," Jirōbō muttered, "and this is taking far too long. If I don't finish you now, there'll be nothing left to snack on. Prepare to die, trash."

Harō watched in dread as markings overtook Jirōbō's form and the Sound shinobi's chakra flared with evil intent.

-l-l-l-

Deidara wheeled on his clay owl, narrowly avoiding another _**Fūton: Mugen Sajin Daitoppa**_ expelled from the Jinchūriki's mouth. He threw out a series of clay spiders before making a one-handed Ram seal – his method of controlling the detonating clay that was his main jutsu repertoire. "_Katsu!_" A chain reaction of explosions went off, obscuring his view of the boy-turned-demon and allowing him to survey his grounded partner.

While he and Sasori certainly couldn't consider each other 'friends' (and in all honesty, when you were an S-class missing-nin renowned as a terrorist bomber for hire, friends really didn't exist in your world), Deidara was grateful that he had been assigned as the puppeteer's partner. His service with Akatsuki wasn't exactly voluntary – his defeat at the hands of Itachi still stung something fierce – but if he was stuck with the criminal organization, at least the man he was forced to deal with on a daily basis was also an artist.

Albeit, an artist whose views were completely _wrong_, but an artist nonetheless.

Deidara had arrived to find a partially transformed Jinchūriki destroying the forested surroundings in a blind rage, courtesy of his initial bombs. The only orders the 16-year-old terrorist had been given by Leader was to capture the Jinchūriki alive. Initially, the blonde had thought that a bit problematic, considering how…destructive…his abilities were.

However, after a fair amount of time battling the Ichibi's sand-based jutsu, Deidara could see that killing the boy accidentally would not be as problematic as he had believed. Of course, that was assuming that the other two children – one using a puppet, the other wielding a giant fan – would _stop interfering in his damn mission!_

Since he had started assaulting the Jinchūriki, the two children (though the blonde girl with the fan looked to be about his age) had been prematurely detonating his works of art before they could reach the intended target. Some of his masterpieces-to-be had still gotten through as he had increased the quantity sent out, which had helped to feel out the Ichibi's abilities, but for the most part they had done nothing but irritate the Jinchūriki.

The annoyance had, unfortunately, done something, since the Jinchūriki had quickly become encased in even more sand. His entire body was now coated in the coarse tan material, a wicked tail protruding from the base of his spine and accented by similarly featured claws. An insane, demonic grin overtook his visage, making him look more bestial than human.

But with Sasori's arrival mere moments ago, the other two kids' attentions had been drawn to the grounded puppeteer, leaving Deidara free to complete his task. As it was, his C1 clay was looking to be only minimally effective against the One-Tail's defenses, and the blonde was thinking of upping the potency of his next attack to his C2 Dragon.

Sasori, for his own part, was thoroughly bored. He had followed his younger partner's trail only to come across two would-be ninja interfering with the teen's mission. Deidara, he knew, would inevitably keep him waiting through a prolonged battle with the Ichibi's host, and Sasori _hated_ waiting. So if he could both kill time and eliminate the pests meddling in Deidara's affairs, he would do so. Sasori was nothing if not a pragmatist.

His Akatsuki cloak was ruffled by slicing winds from the fan-wielder, numerous rips appearing in the material. If his body was actual flesh and blood – if he hadn't both turned himself into a human puppet as well as had a preferential tendency to use Hiruko, his favorite puppet – that attack probably would've done serious damage. As it was, he wasn't even fazed.

Uncoiling from underneath his cloak, his tail – composed of chains of iron, tipped with a deadly point and coated in poison – lashed forward with untraceable speed. The girl blocked the appendage with her fan, and Sasori was mildly surprised the giant weapon didn't tear. A hail of senbon came at him from the opposite direction, and he swerved his tail around to block them (rather needlessly). The beady, bloodshot eyes of Hiruko darted to the side to spy the source of the needles: a four-armed wooden puppet.

Another sweeping wave of wind drew his attention away from the puppet and back to the blonde girl. "You're annoying," he growled, "and I'm wasting time on you." The tail lashed out again, but he used its mobility to dodge around the fan and slice cleanly along the girl's leg. She hissed in pain, tried to attack, but then grabbed her leg.

"What did you do to her?" shouted the boy.

Sasori turned to face him. Poisons were a specialty of his, aside from human puppetry, and he always enjoyed seeing the results of a new mix. This one was meant to be swift, starting with a burning sensation around the point of contact before spreading throughout the body and eventually constricting the heart. It would only be a matter of minutes. "The same thing I'll do to you," he answered.

His opponent apparently didn't like that response, for he sent the puppet flying towards Sasori. Again the tail rose to action, this time stabbing straight through the puppet's chest and splintering the entire construct. The boy fighting him looked stunned, then pained as the tail jabbed into his stomach. "H-how did you…?" he gasped.

"A puppet is only as strong as its weakest joint," Sasori informed him gruffly, "and unfortunately for you, I am well acquainted with every facet of Karasu's construction, being its inventor."

"Y-you're…Akasuna…no Sasori?"

"Yes, and while it is flattering that a mere child like you knows of my reputation and uses my tools, I tire of this exchange." It was habit that Sasori didn't say goodbye to victims, simply dismissed them. Normally, if the bodies weren't required for bounties per Akatsuki's needs or didn't possess interesting bloodlines for human puppetry uses, the Scorpion of the Red Sand would just leave them behind to die from poison. This time, he felt he owed it to the boy who used his legacy to watch him die. It only took a minute or two for the boy's eyes to glaze over, and then Sasori turned his attention back to his junior.

Deidara was atop the head of a giant dragon, which was firing miniatures at the forested area where Sasori could only assume the Ichibi Jinchūriki was. Sasori decided to shuffle out of the way of the impending blast range of his partner, which the puppeteer was sure would increase as the blonde's frustration grew. "Don't screw this up, Deidara," he muttered.

The former Iwa-nin zoomed in on his target with his scope, trying to see if the increased power of his C2 was weakening the sand covering the Jinchūriki. He managed to catch the demonic boy forming the sign of the Ram, then the guttural crow of, "_**Tanuki Neiri no Jutsu**_," before he slumped forward. Sand immediately exploded forth from his body in massive amounts and began to coalesce into a more solid form.

Deidara's visible grey-blue eye widened minutely. "This could be trouble, hm," he murmured, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Well, 300+ reviews and now over 100,000 words is quite an accomplishment in my book, even if it took awhile. Thanks to all of you who gave me either words of encouragement or criticism on the previous chapter, and (although I don't like doing this, I feel the need to in this case) a big thanks to SpartanCommando, Marcurix, and Archerdood for reminding me that this is my story and I need to write it as I want, regardless of whether all the reviewers understand my methods or not. Most questions that everyone has should be addressed at a later point, and the next chapter should fill in almost all the rest of the holes about Kakuzu (and his relationship with Naruto). It will also take awhile, because I'm pretty sure it'll be even longer than this one.

I changed the names of Naruto's _**Jiongu**_ forms; I also am aware of some of this seemed...superfluous, but I liked how the transitions worked. And yes, some of the situations were altered slightly to fit into the story. Fanfiction's magical like that. So there you go. Also, if you're up to date on the manga…I just want to cry. Again, Kakuzu just gets screwed over. What the hell. Nothing else to say here.

Anyway, drop me a review if you could and let me know what you think!


	12. Changes

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

Pein wandered down a narrow hallway of the main base in Otogakure. As the head of a rogue, criminal organization bent on what essentially amounted to world domination, he was mildly impressed with how organized Orochimaru's entire operation was. Especially considering that Otogakure was officially little more than a series of secret hideaways spread throughout (the newly renamed) Sound Country (with lairs in some neighboring lands).

With Akatsuki's original goal having been based around freeing Amegakure from the clutches of Hanzō the Salamander and creating world peace, the idea of having a base of operations had always appealed to the orange-haired man. A legitimate base, too, not the hidey-holes, caves and shack huts all of Akatsuki's members had been forced to live in during the formative years. After Akatsuki had progressed to its current status of mercenary group and Bijū collector, having a base had seemed less pertinent, especially considering its members were almost constantly on the move.

But part of Pein's goal – selfish as it was – was still to free the Hidden Rain from its current ruler. While overthrowing Hanzō was entirely possible with his level of power, such an action would most likely produce a form of civil unrest and unease in a country which really didn't need them. So having a place to build an army, solidify his forces, and prepare until he was good and ready to take over Amegakure in one swift, decisive maneuver was high on his personal list of things to do.

That was where Otogakure came in.

Granted, Hidden Sound was not exactly close to Hidden Rain distance-wise, but that was beside the point. Pein wasn't overly interested in making a move until the Bijū were mostly accounted for as it was, so that his focus could be on the invasion rather than the progress of his mercenary group. In normal circumstances, he wouldn't have even considered going after Otogakure now, but with things with Orochimaru coming to a head, there was no reason not to.

Gunning after the Snake Sannin now served a dual purpose: the man's long overdue elimination from the ranks of the living (something Deidara would have to survive not being able to do himself), and to take control of Oto. The latter explanation was only half the reason that Pein was walking around the main base.

Two shinobi rounded a corner and pointed at him, yelling for him to stop. Pein spared them a glance before holding both hands up, palms facing them. "_**Shinra Tensei**_," he intoned, using his control over gravity to propel them against the nearby wall. Both Oto-nin struck the stone hard and slumped to the ground unconscious.

Pein peered through the next open doorway he came to, stepping inside as the contents piqued his interest. The room looked like a laboratory, lined with rows of short cabinets put together by stone countertops. Jars of different substances – mostly snakes, with the odd frog, lizard, or some other animal or animal part floating in liquid – covered the counters, along with mortars, pestles, containers of pills, and other doctoral instruments. Ringed grey eyes took in all of the tabletop clutter. _Ah. There it is._

Nestled among a plethora of glass jars containing snakes was a decomposed left hand, a slate blue ring on the pinky marked with the symbol for 'void'. This was the lost Akatsuki ring Orochimaru had taken with him after Itachi had removed his hand, prompting his defection. Zetsu had been carefully exploring Otogakure while the Sannin had been preoccupied with his invasion of Konoha. The plant-man had discovered this main base after some time searching, but hadn't quite narrowed down exactly where the ring was.

Not that that was important anymore. Pein slipped the ring off the digit, staring at it for a long moment. After so many years of having the slippery Snake Sannin evade the majority of their espionage attempts (recent ones pertaining to the Chūnin Exams notwithstanding, with Zetsu dedicated solely to that task), it was nice to have the object of his desires back. With the return of the ring to Akatsuki's possession, the criminal organization could, for the first time ever, have a full ten members…assuming everything played out okay with Kakuzu and Pein's plans for the man's partner, of course.

Pein retraced his steps out of the base, coming across no resistance in the process. He emerged from the small hole in the ground which was the entrance to the hideout, spying Konan, Itachi, and Kisame not far away, the blue-skinned man standing slightly in front of the other two, sword drawn. Konan turned to glance at him. "Did you find it?" she asked, her even tone of voice seeming to portray her as disinterested in the answer.

"Yes," he replied, then continued, "Zetsu, report."

The plant-man emerged from his hiding place in a nearby tree, white side laughing quietly. **"Kakuzu and his team have engaged Orochimaru and his guards in combat. Deidara and Sasori have also located the Ichibi Jinchūriki and are currently attempting to neutralize him."**

Pein nodded. "Good. Things are going according to plan, then."

"Can I eat Orochimaru after Kakuzu-san kills him?"

Akatsuki's leader frowned slightly. "No. Orochimaru's bounty was already promised to Kakuzu…reneging on such a deal would prove disastrous for any future endeavors with him." Zetsu seemed slightly put-off by his response, but said nothing. Pein turned to face Konan and Itachi. "Neutralize all opposition within the base. Keep as many alive as you can…I would like to add them to our forces, if at all possible."

"And if they do not wish to betray Orochimaru?"

Pein's ringed grey eyes flickered to settle solely on Itachi, who had posed the question. They drifted over to Kisame – whose head was tilted enough to view the conversation – and then to the extraordinarily pale-skinned, white-haired boy standing across from the former Kiri-nin, holding something long, thin, and white in his hand. "Eliminate them." Kisame's sharp-toothed grin grew even larger as he charged the Oto-nin, bringing his sword in front of him to deflect a series of tiny projectiles. "I expect this base to be under our control by the time I return."

He returned his attention to Zetsu. "Meet me at the rendezvous point." Zetsu melded back into the tree, disappearing from view. Then, with a 'poof' of smoke, Pein was gone.

-l-l-l-

Thankfully, Orochimaru didn't have a huge lead, so catching up was easy enough. The more frustrating part was that, despite having the Snake Sannin within his sight, Kakuzu wasn't really gaining any extra ground. Orochimaru knew he was there, and Kakuzu knew that Orochimaru knew he was there, meaning that both S-class nukenin knew there would be a showdown. Kakuzu's main question was why his quarry was insisting on dragging out the time until their inevitable meeting.

Perhaps he wanted an opportunity to replenish as much of his chakra as he could? Though he hadn't witnessed the battle against the Hokage, he knew of the man's reputation in the shinobi world and could easily deduce that taking him out wouldn't be easy, Orochimaru's prowess and the Sandaime's age be damned.

Kakuzu was living proof that age determined nothing as far as power went.

A part of him appreciated the chance to regain some chakra. In his zeal to kill off the flies of Takigakure, he had probably burned through a heart's worth of chakra. Not that that really meant much, what with _**Jiongu**_'s chakra-independence, but he certainly preferred to use his more powerful attacks when he could. And he had little doubt that he would need them in the upcoming fight.

He leapt to the ground, tired of running across the limbs of trees. The forest was an irritating reminder of exactly where he was and exactly whom he was hunting. And to be perfectly honest, Kakuzu far preferred fighting in open areas where there was less interference from the surroundings to limit his attacks. Calling upon his kinjutsu's abilities, the fire heart on his back – ironically, the one he had taken from an Uchiha when he had first met Naruto – was transferred across his body until it formed as a black mass on his right shoulder, tiger mask protecting it. An orb of fire formed in from of the mask's mouth, and Kakuzu hardened his skin to withstand the heat.

The fireball was launched, impacting a tree near Orochimaru and causing the surrounding area to burst into violent flames. Kakuzu had a brief moment of déjà vu, the memory of the day he met Naruto once again brought to the forefront of his mind. _**Katon: Zukkoku**_ was truly a magnificent attack; it even helped to eliminate the foliage of Fire Country which interfered with his attack style. His reminiscing was cut short by his target's voice. "Ku ku ku, a little excited, aren't we?"

"Enough of this cat-and-mouse game," he retorted. "I weary of your procrastination of the inevitable."

"You seem to have a high degree of confidence in your skills…Kakuzu-kun." The way the Sannin rolled his name around disturbed the older man, but he didn't rise to the bait. "What makes you believe your power stands up to mine?" sibilated Orochimaru with a disturbing grin.

Kakuzu didn't answer. In all honesty, he _didn't_ know if his power would stand up to the other nukenin's. He believed in his own strength, but there were too many unknowns surrounding Orochimaru – even with Zetsu's vague rundown of what the man could do – and Kakuzu had faced a similar situation long ago, where he had gone up against a man whose abilities were somewhat known all because of someone else's orders. The reoccurrence of the results of such a situation, while unlikely with how much he had grown as a shinobi, was not to be discounted.

Introspection, Kakuzu had discovered, was an ill-begotten hobby developed by far too many years of wandering the world alone.

_Almost 94 years ago, Takigakure was founded in the heart of Waterfall Country. Five different groups of nomadic families came together with the singular goal of forming a new village to be better protected from the rest of the world (Kirigakure and Iwagakure had already popped into existence, and rumors abounded of the nomadic clans of Wind Country allying to form another Hidden Village). The tribes – one for each of the main elements for which their members specialized in – argued about the hierarchy of power within the village, until it was determined that a council of elders would be formed, one from each family, with the Head Elder being from the Tribe of Water._

_Leading the village became the least of the peoples' problems upon Takigakure's formation. Hidden behind one of the land's massive namesakes was a huge, white horse-like creature with five tails. They had intruded upon the home of the Gobi no Irukauma, and the Bijū was quite unhappy about it. Though it took the lives of a quarter of their forces and several of their most experienced sealers, the Five-Tails was eventually sealed into the most newborn member of the village-to-be._

(Kakuzu had discovered the information pertaining to the Gobi only after he had become a member of the Five Elements. Even still, there had been no disclosure as to whom the Jinchūriki was, and he had been disinterested in further research at the time, considering that the rest of the world had been at war. Since then, the topic of the Bijū had only resurfaced because of his initial meeting with Zetsu, and while Taki's possession of the Nanabi was a bit of an anomaly, Kakuzu had found he didn't particularly care for the specifics of how such a thing came to pass; his focus had been more on enlightening Naruto to the career path of a ninja-slash-bounty hunter. All other information related to Takigakure's founding had been taught in his youth at the Academy.)

_Just about five years later, on August 15, Kakuzu was born to a pair of poor farmers from the Tribe of Water, his father the youngest child of the Head Elder, Takahashi Hiroki. The Tribe of Water was the largest elemental family within Takigakure, with the Tribe of Earth having about two-thirds their number and the remaining Tribes of Lightning, Wind, and Fire possessing only a fraction of that._

_Despite being related to the Head Elder, money was scarce as Kakuzu grew up. Avarice was an influential sin within the Hidden Waterfall Village, dictating the actions of its populace…and more importantly, its leaders. Everything had some sort of worth, though as far as Takahashi Hiroki was concerned, his youngest offspring and fledgling grandson possessed limited to no intrinsic value._

_As he grew older, Kakuzu developed the same thirst for money that pervaded many of his fellow citizens. Working alongside his parents in order to make a living taught him both the value of a coin and that said money made the world go 'round. So, at the age of 7, Kakuzu enrolled himself in Takigakure's Ninja Academy, fully intent on becoming a ninja. As a professional shinobi, the green-eyed boy figured he would be able to earn far beyond what his parents made, allowing for self-sufficiency in the future (and maybe, perhaps, catch the attention of his hard-to-please grandfather)._

_School was relatively simple for Kakuzu. Academia – while a bit dry at times – was something that the boy excelled in. Mathematics, science, geography, history (what limited events there were), and writing were all subjects that Kakuzu could bury himself in and try to prove himself. Practical applications of ninja training were a bit different, but with fieldwork at home to boost his stamina and strength for taijutsu and a quick grasp of chakra, he was still able to catch on rather quickly._

_At the age of 11, Kakuzu graduated the Academy and became an official Takigakure Genin, partnered with another two children from the Tribe of Water and under the tutelage of a Jōnin with the same specialty. It was easier, the higher-ups had decided, to group together people with the same affinities for joint teaching while they were young, and as they graduated, new teams would be formed with varying skills (for instance, a four-man Chūnin cell would consist of ninja who specialized in four different elemental chakra)._

_Around the same time, Konohagakure was founded by a merging of the Senju and Uchiha clans (in addition to other families of some renown) in the heart of Fire Country. The formation of such a powerful alliance caused tension among the other villages, especially following Kumogakure's creation only a handful of years prior._

_Four months passed, during which Kakuzu and his teammates learned a plethora of basic water ninjutsu, chakra exercises, and fighting methods. It was at that point that the Elders decided to announce their strength to the world by enrolling a number of squads in the Chūnin Exams, to be held in Kirigakure. War was looming on the horizon, and the leaders of the Hidden Waterfall wanted to show that they were ready to fight for glory in whatever manner they could, as well as reap the rewards the losers left behind. Five teams went to the Hidden Mist, including Kakuzu's._

_Only four students returned to Takigakure._

_Through a sheer stroke of luck, Kakuzu had survived the one-on-one match-ups by being pitted against a puppeteer of Sunagakure (even though he had lost). His teammates, unfortunately, had been paired against Genin from the Hidden Mist, who had proceeded to eviscerate their opponents and lend creed to the nickname 'Bloody Mist Village'._

_It took weeks of psychiatric therapy before Kakuzu was deemed fit for village service again. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. He threw himself into his training, mentally swearing to move past the traumatizing experience and improve himself in order to bring pride unto his village. His mentality became one of brutal efficiency, to try and analyze his opponents quickly in order to find their weaknesses and then exploit them, leaving no room for error or an opportunity to be taken advantage of._

_Six months later found Kakuzu breezing through his second Chūnin Exams, this time held in Sunagakure. He was promoted to Chūnin, though small skirmishes among Konoha, Suna and Iwa signified that the increase in rank might've been more to bolster Taki's forces in the inevitable fight ahead._

_Two months later, the Great Shinobi World War was officially in motion._

_One of the more beneficial traits of being part of a smaller nation was the fact that the war somewhat bypassed the Hidden Waterfall Village. The natural geography the original settlers had stumbled upon was not only fertile and promising for agricultural and economic growth, but successfully hid the village and deterred opposing forces from invading. Such defenses allowed for Takigakure to prosper while the so-called Five Great Nations shed blood and lost a generation of mankind._

_Not to say that Taki didn't want its own slice of the victory pie, but the Elders were willing to wait until an opportunity presented itself before capitalizing on one of the combatant's moments of weakness. Whispers abounded that they were hopeful it would be Konoha to fall, since it was the youngest, least deserving, and geographically closest (barring the Hidden Rock) of the warring entities._

_In the meantime, Kakuzu had continued to train. Five years after his promotion to Chūnin, he was granted the title of Jōnin, a strong user of __**Suiton**__ ninjutsu and taijutsu. He was sent out often on missions to sabotage certain supply chains headed to Konoha, or sometimes with other Jōnin to intercept small teams of Leaf shinobi and dispose of them. Every slight against the Hidden Leaf helped tilt the war against the denizens of Fire Country, or so believed the Elders._

_All the while, Takahashi Hiroki observed his grandson's progress, finally taking notice of his flesh and blood's existence after years of ignoring it._

_And it was a mere seven months later that Kakuzu stumbled upon one of the village's most closely guarded secrets._

_The Waterfall Jōnin was training in seclusion by one of the country's smaller namesakes, practicing an application of water manipulation that, upon completion, would theoretically exponentially expand the element's usefulness. Water was versatile in its liquid form, ranging from thin streams to powerful deluges, but with a weakness to the hard-hitting and defensive Earth Release techniques, the flowing element really didn't stand too much of a chance. So Kakuzu was determined to find a way to compensate for this deficiency by developing an offshoot of the nature manipulation which could match __**Doton**__'s brute strength. Rumors of a clan specializing in __**Hyōton**__ ninjutsu within Water Country intrigued him as to the possibilities of elemental combination, but Kakuzu decided that with no other affinity besides water, focusing on determining the mechanics were pointless. Therefore, he would find his own solution._

_First was an exercise to test his control over the liquid element. Applying chakra to his feet, Kakuzu stepped out onto the surface of the pond and made his way to the small waterfall. He placed his hands parallel to the water's flow and closed his eyes, gathering his chakra. After a moment, he expelled the collected energy._

_All the water above where his hands were placed stopped, leaving an empty space four feet above the surface of the pond where the waterfall normally fell. There was a momentary flicker in the empty space, and Kakuzu's sharp eyes (trained to detect anything suspicious on the off chance it was an enemy) caught the appearance of a cave as the illusion of rock covering it was dispelled by his chakra burst._

_He stood silently as the waterfall resumed its natural course, thinking about what such an occurrence could mean. Tunnels and caves behind the country's namesakes weren't exactly uncommon, but none of the ones he had so far come across had contained a genjutsu to disguise its entrance. Curious, and of the mindset that knowledge was power, he ducked his head and walked through both the pounding water and the rock illusion. The cave proved to be nothing special, but the Jōnin moved cautiously nonetheless, aware that if it was important enough to hide, there could very well be traps._

_An hour later found Kakuzu approaching the end of the pathway, looking a little worse for wear. As he had thought, there were a number of ploys meant to deter the movement of anyone who had discovered the cave's location, one designed to use each of the main elements (in true Takigakure fashion). After dousing jets of fire from the wall and then evading a series of seals built into the walls, floor, and ceiling which electrified the interloper if it detected a pressure difference (overcome by condensing water vapor into a liquid form and carefully water walking an inch above the floor), he had lost his loose black shirt to a sickle of wind which had very nearly bisected him. Compared to those traps, the blocks of stone that erupted from the wall in an attempt to crush him and the continuous deluge of water which he assumed was intended to drown the person were easy to bypass._

_Placed on a stone pedestal was a single scroll, not even as long as the man's forearm. Kakuzu pocketed the scroll, noted a warning inscribed upon the pedestal, and then departed the cave. More power was a boon, but most well-hidden treasures had some sort of negative side effect which he was currently unwilling to deal with. Besides, gaining power through such a means seemed cheap and counterproductive to his current method of trying to prove himself._

_Still, perhaps a day would come when he needed the strength the scroll could grant him. In the meantime, he would just keep it safe._

_Seventeen months passed before Kakuzu became part of the first generation of Takigakure's __**Gogyō Go-Kō**__, an elite group created from the cream of the Waterfall's crop. The decision to create such a team came about from intelligence on the major villages, specifically the Mist's Seven Ninja Swordsmen and the Cloud's Kinkaku Force. The Elders believed that the formation of such a troop would lend credence to their effectiveness as a ninja village when the Great Shinobi World War finally concluded._

_To achieve such a prestigious position, Kakuzu had trained himself to the limit, dedicating himself to completing missions with a level of swiftness and competency that was nearly unrivaled. During his time back in the village, he had continued to push himself to find a form of water ninjutsu that could compensate for its weakness against earth ninjutsu. Eventually, he was able to create the secret technique __**Mizukiri no Yaiba**__, which utilized hardened water as an attack basis._

_Creating the solidified water sword had taken a bit of work, but eventually the Jōnin had stumbled upon a breakthrough. If he was able to condense water vapor back into its liquid form, what was stopping him from taking it a step further? By forcing his chakra to push the liquid water molecules together, he could manipulate the chemical bonds and molecular vibrations and make them tighter than in their liquid form. Instead of producing ice (whose water molecules were spaced further apart than its liquid counterpart), the water compacted enough to solidify and resist most physical attacks, so long as it had enough chakra to stay in that form. Thus a sword; Kakuzu was able to keep hold of it to imbue it with chakra, as well as manipulate it to his will._

_Such a talent earned him the title of Hidden Waterfall's first Surging Wave…and the sought after attention of his grandfather._

_Another sixteen months flew by, during which Kakuzu and his elite brethren were sent out on increasingly difficult missions meant to hinder the progress of the Hidden Leaf even further in the war. It wasn't until that time that the Elders received intelligence that Konoha had created their own Jinchūriki upon the defection of founding father Uchiha Madara, all through the capabilities of the Shodai Hokage. Even more disturbing was the revelation that the captured Bijū was the Kyūbi, the strongest of all the Tailed Beasts._

_Kakuzu, the most talented and strongest of the Five Elements, was assigned the mission to eliminate the Shodai Hokage in a vain attempt to wrest power from the Hidden Leaf._

_After infiltrating the village, killing the ANBU guards, and attempting a stealthy assassination of Senju Hashirama, Kakuzu was forced to flee with the Hokage right on his heels. Dodging the animated trees of Fire Country (courtesy of the damnable Senju), Kakuzu fled to the Valley of the End and engaged in a showdown with the Wood Release user. An intense battle ensued, but the Taki-nin was sorely outclassed and was barely able to escape with his life._

_As it was, he used the last of his chakra to produce a water clone to temporarily distract the Hokage in order to make it back to the Hidden Waterfall. When he returned, half-conscious and on the brink of death, he was brought before the Village Elders and forced to reveal his failure. Despite swearing he would try again when he was fully recovered, his grandfather – with a strangely regretful look Kakuzu had never seen him wear before – announced that there would be no second chances. With that proclamation, Kakuzu was dragged from the room and thrown into a prison cell, arms chained behind him and ankles shackled together._

_It took a number of days – not that he could tell the passage of time – before Kakuzu regained some level of cognizance. Unfortunately, the chakra-restraining cuffs limited what courses of action he could take, so the elite Taki-nin was left alone with his thoughts, most of which revolved around how to enact vengeance upon his traitorous village. After all, it was the Elders' fault for sending him in to assassinate a foe far beyond his level for the service of the village. How dare they try to shift the blame to him, when all he had done was serve his home faithfully since the time he could handle a kunai!_

_Kakuzu shifted restlessly in his cell. The motion pushed an object strapped to his waist into his side. His eyes narrowed in recollection as the memory of the scroll he had taken from the hidden cave a couple of years ago resurfaced; apparently his jailors had neglected to do more than a cursory sweep of his body to rid him of basic weaponry. Returning to Takigakure in a half-dead state must not have put his threat-level very high._

_Such negligence would surely return to bite the higher-ups in the ass, and merely worked in Kakuzu's favor._

_His analytical mind quickly assessed his plan of attack. Though he wasn't exactly sure what the jutsu locked in the scroll did, it would most likely grant him the power capable of allowing him to escape his imprisonment. After that, he would eliminate the men who had sent him on what he perceived in hindsight to be a suicide mission, and leave his accursed home to rot._

_Wriggling around, Kakuzu managed to maneuver the scroll – hidden under his clothes – to a position where he could grasp it with his hands. Grabbing it, he laid it upon the stone floor and unrolled it, revealing blank parchment barring a single black ring in the center. Callused, dirty fingers ran over the paper, as if trying to decipher anything hidden. Upon brushing the interior of the ring, the black area glowed blue before words began to appear all along the scroll. Sharp eyes skimmed the writings hastily – a series of seals for activation, the name of the technique, the beginnings of an explanation of what it did – skipping most of the finer print with the decision to peruse it in greater detail at a later time. Forming the required seals, he placed his hands upon the parchment as far apart as his restraints allowed. Chakra, apparently, was not a heavy requirement for activation._

_The ring shone blue again, and two thick black bands appeared on each forearm, halfway between the wrist and elbow. Kakuzu barely had time to give the tattoos a cursory glance before a plethora of threads burst forth from the scroll. They dug into his skin, creating sutures on his body and stitching shut several of his wounds, causing the elite ninja to scream in sheer agony. Suddenly, he was aware that the invasive feeling of the threads was no longer occurring – though he was still in copious amounts of pain – and the scroll had returned to its essentially blank state._

_Muddled though his brain was from the union with the kinjutsu, Kakuzu knew that his cries would have alerted the attention of some form of guard. His body contracted suddenly, wracked with spasms that sent him into another fit of physical torment. Clearly, his previous injuries compounded with the introduction of the secret technique – __**Jiongu**__, he believed was what had appeared on the scroll – to his system had left him in a state hardly fit to escape the village, let alone the prison cells._

_Whisperings interrupted his musing, promises of power and grandeur in exchange for control of his body. _Release me from here and you can have whatever you desire, _Kakuzu swore. His life was essentially forfeit unless he could escape the prison, so why not allow the black tendrils free reign? The threads reacted with what the man assumed to be unbridled glee before he felt his body move without his direction._

_The guard Kakuzu knew would come arrived just as __**Jiongu**__ broke the manacles on his wrists._

"_I desire vengeance against those who wronged me," Kakuzu announced with vindication. He cherished the guard's momentary look of confusion before dozens of threads skewered the hapless man. One of the threads looped around a set of keys and jammed it into the lock, opening the cell door. "Versatile," he muttered, then winced. There was no telling how long the threads would be able to control his battered body before he collapsed from sheer exhaustion, but he was willing to ride out the storm of pain until his revenge was sated. Sheer willpower was going to have to be his driving force._

The series of events that had followed was still a bit hazy. He could remember flashes of a couple shinobi trying to stop his rampage, though they were quickly dispatched with his new powers…stairs…one of the Elders staring at him in unadulterated horror…the integration of a heart, a new chakra element, into his system, four times over… The image of Takahashi Hiroki, traitorous kinsman, bent over a book, scribbling frantically before a series of threads compacted into a point and speared the man through his chest…

In hindsight, Kakuzu couldn't even recall how he had escaped Takigakure. After awaking from a long bout of unconsciousness, he had discovered his body looked like a rag doll, long sutures decorating his arms, chest, stomach, back, and shoulders. _The price for our power,_ the threads had seemed to whisper. Weeks later left him still struggling to adjust to the power surges of four new elemental chakras and the kinjutsu he now housed, despite poring over the scroll (which the threads had stored within his arm) with a careful eye.

Following his defection from the Hidden Waterfall and his eventual recovery to elite shinobi status, Kakuzu had avoided the remainder of the Great Shinobi World War, only interfering to kill ninja and offer their corpses to opposing ninja villages to make a living. With the end of the war (just under six years after becoming a nukenin) and the publishing of the Bingo Book – both universal for AWOL shinobi and internal, differing for each village – Kakuzu took up the mantle of a bounty hunter, making a living by hunting and killing other high level shinobi, occasionally stealing their hearts (or other organs) for his own based on need.

So he had lived, as an S-class missing-nin (international laws dictated that nukenin with kinjutsu, at least, be classified as such), for over 61 years, until he had come across Uzumaki Naruto in the forests of Fire Country.

It had been a whim at first, really. The boy possessed what he had thought to be an undiscovered, unbelievably useful _kekkei genkai_ (and Kakuzu had faced his fair share of useful bloodline limits: _**Mokuton, Hyōton**_, Sharingan, _**Yōton**_…the list went on). But if he could take advantage of a wandering child with unprecedented healing abilities and no connections to society, there was no way he would pass up such an opportunity. And if the boy couldn't prove his usefulness…well, Kakuzu had no compunctions with disposing a body.

Lo and behold, Naruto had risen to the mercenary's expectations, in spite of Kakuzu's somewhat lackluster teaching abilities. Not that he could really be blamed for lacking such skills; years of isolation tended to strip one of the niceties associated with human interaction. Still, there was something to be said for the fact that the blonde brat had wormed his way so thoroughly into the former Taki-nin's life.

The veteran shinobi couldn't even place quite how Naruto had done such a thing. Certainly there was something to be said about the boy's mental state. Psychologically damaged, Naruto craved attention, and with his only consistent contact in his formative years being Kakuzu – who was not easily impressed – the blonde sought his elder's approval in every facet of his life. It was a valid method, Kakuzu had found, for keeping his disciple within his grasp and under his thumb. As long as Naruto kept seeking his teacher's approval, Kakuzu could easily manipulate the brat into following the path he chose for him.

Ironically, even without the nukenin's strict guidance, Naruto was already treading Kakuzu's beaten road.

Separated from his village (albeit at an earlier age and under different circumstances), quick and eager to learn, loyal to a cause, talented, desensitized to death, aware of how the world worked…it was shocking just how close Naruto's personality reflected Kakuzu's own (even if the older shinobi had taught his younger counterpart certain aspects). Such similarities had inspired Kakuzu to grant the powers of _**Jiongu**_ to his pupil in an effort to steer him further along the nukenin's own path.

As it was – and barring the small hiccup Fū's presence had caused – Naruto was well on his way to becoming Kakuzu's legacy, the man's second coming.

There was no _real_ incentive for rearing a younger version of himself, except for the fact that Kakuzu held an unhealthy amount of contempt for humanity and wanted his vision spread. Such loathing stemmed from his own treatment at the hands of his former village's superiors, and had only compounded over the decades the nukenin had been alive. Due to his own treatment in the Hidden Waterfall, Kakuzu had decided that, if other ninja villages didn't appreciate their shinobi, he would deprive of them of said tools, simultaneously turning a profit and making a living off of the decision. Additionally, a lifetime past a shinobi's supposed 'prime', Kakuzu was all but a nonentity in the eyes of the ninja world. His status in the Bingo Book was nonexistent, and he tended to keep a low profile by making sure no survivors witnessed his hunting expeditions. The fact that Akatsuki knew of him was relatively impressive in of itself, though he supposed it was to be expected that an S-class organization had an extensive spy network. Still, Kakuzu was only one man, and searching for one powerful bounty after another was a tiresome, thankless, and ageless task.

But with Naruto…well, a child whose abilities placed him even further from death than Kakuzu himself made for a powerful ally in the grand scheme of things. The blonde would be a fresh reminder that dangerous, bitter people like Kakuzu still existed in the world without actually revealing his presence; younger children tended to give off a less threatening visage than the marred appearance of a veteran shinobi of Kakuzu's caliber, anyway. Naruto was essentially a subtle message to expect the unexpected.

Theoretically, Kakuzu probably didn't even need the blonde anymore now that Akatsuki had made contact with him. The criminal organization seemed to have the same goal Kakuzu had for the world (to some extent), plus it was composed of people who possessed power equal to or potentially greater than Kakuzu's own. Logically, there was no reason he needed to keep the child around.

Still, Naruto had his uses, and Kakuzu had already invested so much time in training him that divesting himself of the blonde would seem contradictory to his way of life – wasted time was wasted money. And the nukenin couldn't _abide_ the thought of wasting money.

Soon enough though, he would have to make some sort of decision between his students and Akatsuki; the inevitable collision would probably come to a head shortly after his clash with Orochimaru. It was possible, he supposed, that some sort of compromise that could be arranged, but he would need more information on Akatsuki before proceeding in that vein of thought. Maybe Naruto and Fū could continue to serve as bounty hunters in Kakuzu's stead if the former Taki-nin was reassigned to some other task within the organization? As it was, in this moment, he had a job to do. His skin hardened as a snake shot out of Orochimaru's mouth, the sword Zetsu had warned him of heading straight towards him. "Such a rudimentary approach will have no effect on –"

The sword sliced through his heart as smoothly as a hot knife through butter.

"Ku ku ku," chuckled a bemused Orochimaru, retracting the Sword of Kusanagi into his mouth as his opponent collapsed. "It looks as though your skills have been overestimated, Kakuzu-kun. You seem to be…indisposed." He turned around and began to walk away, but a jagged trail of large rocks forced him to sidestep and turn around.

"You should heed your own advice, Orochimaru," hissed Kakuzu, slowly rising to his feet.

The Snake Sannin's eyes narrowed hungrily. "Immortality?"

"Only if you wish to call it that."

Orochimaru's absurdly flexible tongue licked his lips in anticipation. Standing in front of him was a shinobi who had taken a direct hit to a vital organ – as best as he could tell – and lived. Perhaps he possessed a new answer to the former Leaf-nin's quest for immortality. "Then it appears I'll just have to tear you apart to find out!"

Kakuzu hunkered down momentarily. "You can try." Then he flexed, and the masks upon his back detached in a mass of black threads.

The fight was on.

-l-l-l-

Deidara wanted a contract. Or some form of agreement specifying the details of what his job entailed. Because he was pretty sure he hadn't signed up for this.

'This' was giant demon composed entirely of sand, taking the form of a tanuki and easily towering a couple hundred feet over the treetops of Konoha's forest. Its body was twice that length, four times if the scaled-looking tail was included. Deep blue markings covered its tail and body, and yellow irises set in black sclera stared at the giant clay dragon hovering at what was now eye-level with it. _So this is a Bijū, hm? I wonder how it'll fair against my art…_

The intense stare-down between Akatsuki member and Bijū was interrupted by a bout of insane giggling courtesy of Shukaku. "Heeheehee! I'm finally out! And there's someone for me to kill, too! _**Fūton**_…"

Deidara frowned as the giant tanuki raised one sandy claw. _Not good._ The dragon flapped its wings to gain some height over the Bijū. Its tail shrank by several lobes as it used the clay to create miniature versions of itself in its maw and then fired them at the tailed beast. "_**Renkūdan!**_" finished the Ichibi, hammering its stomach with its appendage. A giant ball of compressed air shot out of its mouth, driving straight through the smaller clay dragons and exploding them prematurely. The blasts were enough to dissipate the power of the Drilling Air Bullet, but another was quick to follow. That one struck Deidara's giant dragon on its wing and destroyed the appendage. Deidara was forced to hastily spit an owl from his palm, enlarge it, and then jump on it as the C2 Dragon plummeted and was completely decimated by a round of Drilling Air Bullets.

The former Iwa-nin swerved on his owl, trying to come up with a strategy to defeat Ichibi no Shukaku. Certainly his explosive clay was powerful, but even so, he had been prepared more to take on the Jinchūriki – a _human_ –not some demonic beast which instilled nightmares in children. That left him with what exactly?

Just under a pouch of clay, a number of _**Doton**_ techniques taught to him by his former teacher (the Sandaime Tsuchikage), and his _kekkei genkai_. And he had his ultimate technique, C0, but if he was ever going to use that, he would rather achieve something impressive with it, like killing the Uchiha bastard.

Come to think of it, the Uchiha bastard had probably never defeated a Bijū before. After all, Akatsuki only had one of the Tailed Beasts – the Gobi – so far, and since the Sharingan-wielder was assigned the Kyūbi, the blonde teen highly doubted it had been he who had captured the Five-Tails. That meant that if Deidara could take down Ichibi no Shukaku here and now, he would have beaten Itachi to his goal and proved that his art was superior to whatever the damn Uchiha could do.

Motivation came in all sorts of forms, apparently.

_Hm? What's that? _The blonde adjusted the scope affixed to his eye, zooming in on the middle of Shukaku's forehead. Set dead center, like a tiny zit, was the red-haired, slumped figure of the Sand Jinchūriki. The boy appeared to be asleep atop the Biju's head. Thinking back, the bomber realized that the demon hadn't appeared until the boy had activated his strange technique. Perhaps waking the child up would reverse whatever he had done to bring out the Bijū. "Worth a shot, hm," he muttered.

First he needed to see what would be effective against the Ichibi. From his dwindling supply of clay, the blonde produced two birds. These ones, unlike his others, were streamlined for speed, even possessing an extra set of wings to further enhance their agility. The projectiles were quickly deployed, evading a couple of Drilling Air Bullets before exploding against the sandy surface of the demon's right rear leg. Sand sprayed outward from the area of impact, but there was no other visible sign that the bombs had done any harm to the giant tanuki. Shukaku giggled once more, a drunken, high-pitched sound. "You'll need to do better than that to entertain me!" it squealed.

Unfortunately, the Demon Sand Spirit was right. Deidara's C1 clay appeared to be essentially useless against the defenses of Ichibi no Shukaku. Not that the Akatsuki-nin had all that much clay left to do any real damage with it anyway, but still…

He _did_ have enough material left for one giant bomb, his to-date most inspirational piece of art yet: C3. Quickly formulating a plan of attack, Deidara fed the rest of his clay into the mouths on his palms. They chewed furiously to pump the bomber's chakra into the malleable material, enough to fuel the powerful C3. All the while, Deidara was careful to remain far above from Shukaku's reach, which included the _**Renkūdan **_bursts.

Eventually, it was ready. Deidara cupped his hands together as clay came out of both mouths, melding together into a one-foot tall figure. It had a rounded bottom which tapered up to a pointed tip, an open-mouthed screaming face set within the conical top. Two wing-like appendages crisscrossed in front of its body, as if protecting its decency. All-in-all, it didn't strike an overly imposing figure, but looks were deceiving. This was Deidara's most explosive masterpiece yet.

The Akatsuki member gained altitude, positioning himself high above and directly overhead the tanuki. Below, Shukaku was thrashing among the forested area, cackling with unrestricted glee at its freedom and ignoring the blonde who couldn't even keep its attention. Now was the opportune time to strike. He released the clay doll, exponentially increasing its size with a single hand sign as it plummeted to its target below, Deidara following in a steep dive just outside the bomb's blast radius. Just as the masterpiece was about to hit, he brought his hand up once again. "_KATSU!_"

A giant fireball engulfed the rampaging Bijū, accompanied by the demon's shrieks of (presumably) pain. Deidara swooped through the resulting smoke, hopping off the clay owl and watching his creation fly off as he found purchase on the uneven surface that was Shukaku's skin. As the haze from his bomb cleared, a large crater could be seen in the middle of the Ichibi's back, which prompted Deidara to grin gleefully. Granted, his C3 hadn't done as much as he had hoped, but the damage to the demon was impressive nonetheless. Besides, it was merely a distraction…albeit an artistic one.

The blonde moved across the Bijū's head (apparently he had landed in the vicinity of the demon's neck), his target being the Jinchūriki protruding from the Ichibi's forehead. Sand swirled around his feet and crawled up his legs as Shukaku giggled, "And where do you think _you're_ going?"

Reluctantly, Deidara activated a ninjutsu he had learned from his former sensei. Reminders of his previous home and especially of his art-hating teacher were not pleasant thoughts for the blonde, though he would choose survival over pride in this particular scenario. "_**Doton: Kaseki no Jutsu**_." Immediately, the sand creeping up to crush him petrified, turned to stone by the earth ninjutsu.

Unhindered by the sand – though annoyed with Shukaku's screeches of fury – Deidara caught sight of the Jinchūriki ahead of him. He gathered chakra into his fist in a manner nostalgic of his younger years. Before he had gotten the mouths on his palms, he had served as a member of Iwagakure's Explosion Corps, a specialized group of shinobi within the village. Though most of the techniques associated with his _kekkei genkai _were now utilized through his exploding clay, Deidara still remembered the theory for the techniques he had used pre-kinjutsu. With a smirk, his fist connected with Gaara's back – the slightest touch was all he needed. "_**Bakuton: Jiraiken;**_ Explosion Release: Landmine Fist!"

Pale teal eyes flew open as the silicate which comprised Gaara's Sand Armor disintegrated into particles and floated away from his body, blown away by Deidara's _**Jiraiken**_. The Genin gasped soundlessly before lapsing into unconsciousness from shock as Shukaku shrieked and began to collapse into sand, his form destabilized by the interruption of the Feigning Sleep Technique. Deidara's owl returned, allowing its creator to leap aboard before grabbing the body of the Sand Jinchūriki with its tail. The blonde had a moment to reflect in idle disgust at the fact that his art had failed to take down the Bijū, but the job had been completed, and that was all that mattered at the moment.

As the owl descended to below tree level, Deidara called out, "Hey, Sasori no Danna, what'd you think, hm?"

The hunched form of Sasori stepped out from the shadows of a grove of trees. "You certainly took your time, Deidara. You know how much I hate waiting."

Deidara snorted. "Like you could've done better, Danna. Your 'everlasting art' wouldn't have done anything against a Bijū, hm. True art is a bang! That fleeting moment when –"

"We have to go, brat," interrupted Sasori. He jumped behind his junior on the owl. "Save your bragging for someone who cares. Leader is expecting us."

"Killjoy, hm." The owl wheeled around and headed deeper into Fire Country, in the direction of Otogakure. Their mission was over.

-l-l-l-

Contrary to popular belief, Naruto actually did absorb some of the things Kakuzu taught him. One such insight was the ability to analyze a situation carefully and assess what to do next.

As it currently stood, Naruto did not like his odds.

Tayuya and Kidōmaru had both undergone some sort of hideous transformation, multiplying their chakra and making them appear grotesque in the process. The spider-nin's skin was now a deep cocoa color, his hair bushier and grey-white to match. Two stubby horns grew from his temples, complementing the spikes that now jutted out along his arms. As if that wasn't enough, the Sound shinobi was crouched upside-down atop the form of a rather large black and grey spider, two orange streaks decorating its body. Beady red eyes stared unflinchingly at the blonde as the arachnid released a loud roar.

Kidōmaru's red-haired companion also possessed the same dark skin color, though wicked white horns had sprouted from the side, top, and back of her head. "The ninth verse, the Turmoil of the Pandemonium!" Tayuya cackled. Suddenly, the stitches closing her summons' mouths burst open, releasing translucent streams of many-mouthed worm-like creatures. The array of enemies standing before Naruto left the blonde staring in wide-eyed awe.

One of the other things the blonde had picked up from his S-class nukenin teacher was a slew of curse words and the appropriate time to use them.

"Shit, shit, shit, _shit, __**shit, SHIT!**_"

Each word was punctuated with a different evasion of one of the multitude of opponents, from the _Doki_'s worm-like extensions to the giant spider's sticky silk and Kidōmaru's golden weapons. From the corner of his eye, Naruto managed to catch sight of a worm spirit pass through Kamegōka's hiding spot. The red chameleon disappeared in a cloud of smoke. _Well that's not good. _Apparently the _Doki_'s extrusions seemed to eat or absorb physical manifestations of chakra, if the immediate dispersal of the fire-breathing chameleon was any indication. _Definitely don't want to let them touch me _now_. No telling what'll happen. What to do…_

Naruto needed a distraction…rather desperately. Handling four different summons plus their drastically altered summoners while waiting for his own summon to get into position (most chameleons had limited mobility) was a little beyond what he thought he could handle at his current level. But if he could take down one of the Sound shinobi – Tayuya, preferably, with her extra summons and genjutsu specialty – then neutralizing the other should be a relatively simple task. Which begged the question: _how_.

His foresight was cut short as a rain of spiders descended upon him from above, connected by threads to a massive silk cocoon. "Oh _come ON!_" he whined, hastily throwing out a Great Breakthrough to blow the descending arachnids off-course. He sank into the ground, hoping for a moment of reprieve, but a sudden pounding sound caught him off-guard. The repetition of the noise and its accompanying quakes gave him a headache, so Naruto moved away and arose from the earth. The _Doki_ wielding the club was slamming the weapon into the ground, which explained the noise and vibrations. "Finally, a moment of peace," he muttered, rubbing his temples. "Damn ugly ogre thing, ruining my concentration." Kneeling, the blonde took a deep breath and tried to come up with a quick solution to his problem.

A golden arrow whizzed by overhead, lodging deep into the foliage behind Naruto. "Damn, missed. Oi, Tayuya! He's at one o'clock! Immobilize him so I can take him out already!" shouted Kidōmaru.

Naruto's eyes went wide while the female ninja yelled back something derogatory. "Holy shit, they're not fooling around." Blue eyes turned steely. "Fine then, let's do this for real." _Help out only if it's necessary,_ he commanded _**Jiongu**_. "Summoning number three…_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**_" This time, the chameleon that appeared was twelve feet long, with gray-green skin and a snake's head for a tail. The unusual addition marked the reptile as a mutant among his relatives, but Naruto found his usefulness far outweighed his appearance. "'Koso, I need you to distract spider boy and his pet over there," gestured the Jinchūriki. The chameleon's right eye shifted to gaze in the general direction of his summoner's hand before he nodded and vanished. Despite his mutation, Kamekoso still retained the camouflaging ability that made the chameleons so valuable, in addition to his tail acting as a prehensile limb and possessing a fair amount of speed. And he wasn't even fully grown yet; Naruto couldn't wait until the reptile got bigger.

The crashing of trees alerted the boy to the arrival of the _Doki_. He doubled back towards where Tayuya was, following the sound of the flute. From his periphery, he caught the sight of Kidōmaru's giant spider writhing and roaring as it was attacked by the invisible Kamekoso, though the Oto-nin himself seemed to be tracking Naruto's movements. He went to take another step, but found that he couldn't move. _What the –_

Naruto found his entire body restrained by ropes, arms held perpendicularly out to the side uselessly. No background was really determinable – though he was _clearly _not in Fire Country's forests anymore – though he quickly became distracted by the sight of his flesh melting off his bones. He began screaming in pain, even with the knowledge that he was merely trapped in _another _illusion and unable to escape.

A sudden pain in his arm – unrelated to the genjutsu – broke him out of the illusion, and he glanced at the limb to find that _**Jiongu**_ had taken things into its own hands and stabbed him. "Thanks," he offered, before a dull _thunk_ sounded out and his face paled. The Jinchūriki glanced down.

Straight through his chest was a ragged hole where one of Kidōmaru's arrows had just punctured, embedding itself in a tree trunk behind the blonde.

It only took a second, though it felt more like years, for Naruto to comprehend what had happened. Death, he realized with sudden clarity, was a rather sudden experience, occurring with the startling swiftness of a lightning strike. Strangely, it wasn't as painful as Naruto had thought it would be, though perhaps that was because _**Jiongu **_tempered the effects with its infestation of his body. He had noticed a higher pain tolerance since the kinjutsu had been introduced, the actual merging process notwithstanding. Whatever the reason, the Jinchūriki remained cognizant of his surroundings despite the fact he had just been dealt a fatal blow to the heart.

He mouthed wordlessly and fell over backwards as Tayuya and Kidōmaru began exchanging a mixture of bragging rights and curses. _**Jiongu**_ quickly assimilated the _**Suiton **_heart on his back into his body, even as multiple 'poof' sounds indicated the dispersal of his opponents' summons. _Screw this…do what you need to do,_ he informed the kinjutsu. _But let me take my shot first. _Naruto sprang up from the ground without waiting for a response, eliciting shouts from the two older shinobi. Tayuya lifted her flute to her lips, but Naruto was already running through seals for his oldest wind jutsu. Even without his original heart, wind was his body's affinity; the motions and techniques were second nature to him. "_**Fūton: Rep**__**pūshō**__**.**_"

Wind blasted out in Tayuya's direction in a continuous stream. Sound, Naruto realized, required a medium to travel through – in this case, the air. If he disrupted the path of the air to his ears by blowing it back at the flute-user, then none of her sound-based techniques would affect him. Granted, keeping the Violent Wind Palm going was not an ideal use of chakra, but his original plan could probably be enacted at last. "NOW!" he yelled.

A long pink tongue shot out from nowhere and wrapped around Tayuya's flute. Surprised, she was unable to react as the instrument was yanked from her grasp, disappearing into the maw of a now-visible chameleon. The reptile disappeared in a burst of smoke, taking the Oto-nin's weapon with it. Tayuya was cussing fluently – the gist of the curses aimed at Naruto – when the blonde appeared next to her.

She tried to throw a punch, but black tendrils wrapped around the wrist and prevented it from moving. They slithered to her other wrist and bound it, forming a pair of mobile manacles. "Fucking piece of shit," she snarled. "I'll kill you!"

"Interesting proposition," Naruto returned idly, more relaxed now that the tables were turned. "How 'bout this instead?" He leaned in close, as if preparing to divulge a particularly juicy secret. "You can take your little curses and your _fucking genjutsu_…and just _shove it up your ass_." Wind swirled around his right fist, a rough cylindrical shape forming with sharp winds covering a blunt inside. "Now _die._ _**Fūton: Senpūken!**_" With that, the Jinchūriki drove his fist into the Oto-nin's body with poorly concealed vindication.

The results were spectacular. The cutting quality of the outermost wind sliced through Tayuya's darkened skin easily, followed by the brunt pounding of the Whirlwind Fist's interior. In the end, the red-head was left with a gaping hole six inches in diameter where her stomach and other innards had been, blood and lacerated organs decorating the forest beneath the pair. _…That felt _good, Naruto thought. "And then there was one –"

Suddenly, his left arm fell off.

Naruto blinked at the sudden displacement of his limb, staring at his body in mute fascination. To say his arm had 'fallen off' was not entirely accurate. More specifically, in an arcing trail from his clavicle to the bottom of his ribs and crossing over his pectoral, his body was split, the left side connected to the rest by a pulsing mass of black threads (apparently the splitting of his body by _**Jiongu**_ had shredded his shirt in addition to saving his life). Further inspection revealed a neat hole in the spot where his heart probably would've been had the kinjutsu not intervened. Already the threads were converging to fill in the spot. The two parts of his body reconnected, a suture forming along the line of separation. _So this is what happens when __**Jiongu**__ takes control, huh? Useful…though not exactly inconspicuous. Or ideal for a healthy body image. I'll have to be careful with the control I grant it in the future. In the meantime…_ He ran a hand over the stitches, examining them slowly, before turning around to face the direction the arrow had come from. "Time to settle the score."

He leapt from the branch, heading towards where Kidōmaru was. Sensing wasn't exactly his strong suit, but he would have to be completely inept to miss the malevolence of whatever chakra the spider-nin was utilizing. Another golden arrow zoomed through the treetops; Naruto, in midair, forced _**Jiongu**_ to wrap around the nearest branch and pull, moving him away from the trajectory of the projectile. There was a low curse from nearby, causing Naruto's head to swivel towards the sound.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" he sang, swinging up to perch on the tree bough. "I thought you liked games. What's wrong? Not having fun anymore?" Silence greeted him, not that he expected anything else. The blonde went through seals, gathering chakra along the length of his arm. "_**F**__**ūton: Kazekiri!**_" he shouted, making a horizontal slashing motion with the limb. A slicing blade of wind mowed down the nearest two hundred feet of foliage within his sight, cutting neatly through anything in its path. Amidst the sound of trees toppling over, Naruto watched with satisfaction as Kidōmaru jumped from his hiding place to a branch unaffected by the Wind Cutter technique. The Oto-nin immediately started to vomit out another arrow. Naruto moved.

Jumping from his perch, he activated another _**Fūton: Rep**__**pūshō**_, pumping an exorbitant amount of chakra into the technique. Once, he had used the Violent Wind Palm to slow his freefall from the castle that was the Chameleon Boss, Shiromari. This time, he was going to attempt to fly.

Or at least soar a short distance. With enough power behind the wind technique, Naruto figured he could theoretically propel himself through the air and take his enemy by surprise. Angling his hands down and away from his head, the Violent Wind Palm blasted him forward and straight towards Kidōmaru. The spider-nin began to notch his bow, but _**Jiongu **_proved to be faster. Threads erupted from the new stitch on Naruto's chest, wrapping themselves around all of Kidōmaru's wrists and holding them far apart.

Naruto was led along the path of his kinjutsu, landing on top of the other shinobi and knocking him on his back. The blonde panted – partially from exertion of the two super-powered _**Fūton **_ninjutsu, partially from his midair flight and collision – as Kidōmaru sneered at him. His cheeks bulged before a piece of webbing was spat right in the blonde's face. Naruto scowled in disgust. "That was rather unnecessary," he informed the Oto-nin.

"Maybe you've got me trapped, but how do you expect to get past my _**Nenkin no Yoroi**_?" Kidōmaru taunted. Already the golden material that composed the Oto-nin's weapons was seeping out of his skin, creating a shiny, protective film of skin. "It's completely impenetrable, the perfect protection."

A single black tendril separated from the rest and dug into Naruto's kunai pouch. It grabbed one of the knives and handed it to the blonde, who spun it by the ring on one finger. "There's plenty of jutsu in this world that are vaunted as being unflawed and impenetrable…perfect," he echoed blithely. He thought for a moment about Kakuzu's Earth Spear technique, or even about how useful _**Jiongu**_ was, despite the cost to use it. Shaking his head – and irked at the silk loogie still stuck on his face – he gripped the handle of the kunai with both hands. "Defend against _this_." Shoving more wind chakra than strictly necessary into the blade, Naruto stabbed downward.

Straight into Kidōmaru's uncovered third eye.

The spider-nin wasn't even able to scream as the blade's imbued wind chakra was rammed through his brain. Naruto released his grasp on the kunai – too much nature manipulation was detrimental for weapons not made for it – as _**Jiongu**_ unwound from the corpse's joints. "Phew." He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead and began to peel off the webbing. "That was…" he paused and tilted his head. What was that noise?

_Creeeaaaak…crack!_

"AHHHH!"

The branch – partially sheared from the wind chakra which extended through Kidōmaru's skull – hit the ground and splintered underneath the combined weight of Naruto and the Sound shinobi's body. "Nnngh…" groaned the blonde, his body splayed over the dead one. He scrambled to get off the corpse, then announced heatedly:

"_Nobody saw that_."

-l-l-l-

Fū swallowed a gulp at the sight in front of her. Sakon and Ukon now sported red skin, as if they had stayed out in the sun for far too long and been badly burned. Their hair was longer – past their shoulders – and snow white in color, a large horn protruding from their foreheads at an angle and accenting their rather sharp facial features. To compound the pair's hideousness, one half of their bodies were composed of black overlapping scales, from shoulder to foot, with several spikes jutting upward from the shoulder. The Nanabi Jinchūriki shuddered at the brothers' grotesqueness. "Okay, that's nasty."

Apparently the looks came with increased chakra, for Sakon easily yanked himself free of the swamp with a loud slurping sound. He walked over to his brother and asked, "Ukon, are you okay?" Fū was almost awed at the display of sympathy, but then realized that they were brothers who lived inside each other, and such concern probably had a basis in self-interest. She knelt down and prepared another _**Fūton: Taihō ni Uta**_, hoping to hit the pair while they were distracted.

Ukon coughed up a mixture of blood and bile. Truth be told, he had forced himself and his brother to go to Level 2 of the Cursed Seal because the girl's wind attack had done a number on his internal organs. Both of his kidneys and his liver had been damaged by the dispersal of the wind throughout his body, the blunt force of the ninjutsu changing into wind's lacerating element upon making contact. By upgrading to the Cursed Seal, Ukon had increased his body's durability and sent a subtle signal to Sakon to stop horsing around. "I'll need to merge to heal, brother," he coughed, spitting up more blood. The older sibling was quickly assimilated back into Sakon's body. "Kill that bitch." Sakon nodded, turning around in time to dodge Fū's second Wind Release: Cannon Shot.

Beady golden eyes stared down Fū's half-surprised, half-scared expression. Sakon sneered at the girl and then disappeared. The Jinchūriki looked around for any inclination of an attack, and was caught off-guard when the Oto-nin flashed in front of her and punched her. He sneered at the startled expression on her face, but was shocked when her figure burst into a cloud of dust.

Fū hid behind a tree, wincing as Sakon's scream of rage echoed around the area. Replacing herself with a _**Chiri Bunshin**_ had been a last minute decision to test the transformed boy's abilities. At the very least, he was fast. _Way_ beyond what she could keep up with.

A fist slammed through the trunk she was leaning against. "Found you, bitch!" snarled Sakon. Panicked, Fū melded into the earth as Sakon tried hitting her again.

Now underground, Fū fought to steady her breathing. It was one thing to go up against Genin, or Naruto, or even _Kakuzu_, people who she knew couldn't or wouldn't kill her. But this was clearly different. Sakon was out for blood, and even though she was used to Kakuzu (who was often of the same mindset), Fū wasn't used to such outright hostility; despite his threats, Kakuzu never really seemed to want to kill either her or Naruto. She was unprepared to counter the Oto-nin's brutal assault, and it left her slightly unbalanced as to how to react.

_Calm down…work through this. Kakuzu's counting on you. _Naruto's _counting on you._ Taking a deep, steadying breath, Fū found herself more easily able to focus. She was underground, temporarily safe from the Oto-nin currently cursing her out up above. _…That might work,_ she realized after a moment of thought. She searched for Sakon's chakra signature and positioned herself directly underneath it. _**Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu**_, she thought. The green-haired girl reached up and grasped Sakon's foot, dragging him down into the earth until only his head was visible before rising to stand on solid ground once again. "Hi down there," she said, almost cheerfully. "I'd love to stay and chat, but…well, plans and all that, you know?"

"Not particularly, no," sneered a voice to her right. Shocked, she stumbled backwards and fell on her rear, staring blankly at Ukon's head now protruding from her own body. "Surprised?" he jeered rather sarcastically. "Now that we're in Level 2 of our Cursed Seal, our _kekkei genkai_ is applicable to more than just ourselves. We can enter an opponent's body and alter any of their cells or proteins in any manner we desire, and then leave and reform outside their body." Ukon laughed darkly. "It's the perfect assassination technique!"

Fū wasn't sure what she could do. Rearrangement of microscopic matter was not an ability she knew how to counter, let alone defend against while the enemy was connected to her own body. Frantically wracking her brain for some sort of answer, the green-haired girl came up short.

Fortunately, she had an ancient demon sealed into her body with a high sense of self-preservation. _MY VESSEL NEEDS NO NEW PARASITES,_ buzzed the Nanabi irritably in her mind. Fū felt a sudden dryness as the Bijū's chakra began to flood her body, channeled towards the spot where Ukon's body was invading her own.

Ukon screamed suddenly and detached himself from the girl's body amidst the Seven-Tails' rusty, humming laughter. Fū's eyes widened as they took in the reason for the Oto-nin's agonized cries.

Where the Sound shinobi had once possessed an arm, there was nothing. Even the shoulder was gone, as if the limb had never even existed in the first place. In answer to her unspoken question, the Nanabi rasped, _YOU HAVE YET TO REACH YOUR TRUE POTENTIAL. MY POWERS EXTEND FAR BEYOND WHAT YOU HAVE THUS FAR DISCOVERED. THEY ARE NOT THE ONLY BEINGS WITH THE ABILITY TO INFLUENCE THE MICROSCOPIC…NOR ARE THEY THE STRONGEST. NOW KILL THESE FOOLS AND STOP WASTING TIME._

Fū almost thanked the beetle for the save and the pep talk, but decided against it. Doing so would be inviting nothing but trouble and snarky responses, as well as acknowledging a debt to the Bijū, none of which would put her in a good mood. Sakon – freed from the Double Suicide Decapitation Technique – ran to his brother and quickly absorbed him again, shooting Fū a scathing look. "You've lived far longer than you should've, you bitch, and now you're going to die for hurting my brother!" He rushed forward in a burst of rage-induced speed and delivered a crushing uppercut to her chin, sending the girl flying.

The girl performed a _**Kawarimi**_, throwing a nearby rock into her place as Sakon drove home another fist. She set up a series of _**Tsuchi Bunshins**_ to buy time to think of a strategy. Whatever trick the Nanabi had used to make Ukon's arm disappear was not an option (especially since she doubted the beetle would even tell her what it did), which left her with _**Jinton**_ and _**Doton**_. Sakon – or at least, his brother – had proven to be rather resilient and durable to her attacks, so she would need to bring out one of her limited finisher moves…all of which took some time. She needed a distraction.

_Time to steal the Mist's technique. _"_**Chirigakure no Jutsu**_..." A thick screen of dust shot up, blanketing the area in hazy brown. Fū absently felt one of her Earth Clones slump into mud as Sakon killed it, and started to carefully perform seals. While rushing through them would have been preferable, the particular technique she wanted to use was one of those she had to devote her entire concentration to in order to perfect. Hence the smokescreen.

Another clone demolished. How many did she even have left?

Unfortunately, there were two main differences between her Hiding in Dust Technique and the Hiding in Mist Technique used by Kiri-nin. One of them was that she was untrained in the art of silent killing that the shinobi of the Mist were renowned for, so that the cover afforded by the dust did nothing to augment her offensive effectiveness. The other was that the dust obscured _everything_, including her own vision, leaving her just as blind as her opponent. It was mainly a stall tactic in preparation for a widespread attack. The Oto-nin could find her, but he would be forced to search through the haze and hope to stumble upon her position. _Almost done…_

Sakon was suddenly right in front of her.

A powerful kick sent her flying into a tree, her back impacting with a sickening _crack_. Fū wasn't sure if that was the sound of the collision or of something breaking, but decided to ignore it in favor of completing her plan. She slumped to the ground and coughed up a globule of blood. "Still alive, you worthless bitch?" Sakon crowed. "I don't think you've experienced enough pain yet!"

"No, I'm pretty sure that did a fair number," she muttered. One shoulder was dislocated at least, and performing the last few hand signs was doing nothing for the pain. Working through it, she finished the last seal and slapped her hands to the ground. "But this'll probably do one better."

Her chakra flowed into the earth, creating a deep fissure as the land split apart. Sakon shouted angrily from within the dust haze as pieces of the ground disappeared and he fell into the hole. Then, with the crashing of rock, the gaping chasm closed in on itself, crushing the brothers. "_**Doton: Chikaku Batan…**_Earth Release: Tectonic Slam. Not bad…huh…you damn bug."

_REVEL IN YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS WHEN YOU'VE ATOMIZED ENTIRE MOUNTAINS._

The Nanabi's words went unheard, for Fū was already unconscious from the strain of the fight.

-l-l-l-

Harō couldn't formulate an opinion about Jirōbō's transformation. While the Oto-nin looked less ridiculous in this form than in his normal one (a sad thought, to be sure), the increase in chakra and change in appearance was certain to come with bad repercussions for the cobalt-haired boy. Jirōbō now sported a full mane of orange hair, with a mottled brown-red skin tone, and tiny bumps and markings on his face and arms. "_**Tokken**_," grunted Jirōbō, rushing forward and ramming his shoulder into Harō's sternum. Harō gagged as the force of the blow sent him through the tree that was supporting him and into a large dirt clod.

_Opinion settled. New form is dangerous._

The thought was oddly Naruto-sounding, and Harō had to bite back a snort at the idea. Clearly he had been spending far too much time around the blonde. Perhaps he had taken a few too many heavy hits from Jirōbō, too…he felt a bit light-headed.

A series of rocks heading towards him brought the Ame-nin back to a vague state of awareness. He crossed the swords he wielded together and channeled chakra into them. "_**Raiton: Denji Shōheki**_," he gasped. Electricity crackled into existence, forming a barrier which protected him from the onslaught of earth. That was followed by another huge boulder bearing down on him, which the Rain rebel was forced to blow up with a _**Raikyū**_.

Harō rose unsteadily to his feet. If he stayed too long in one spot, the orange-haired male was likely to capture him in the chakra-draining dome of earth again, and depleting his chakra by blasting through it _again_ was not something the Ame-nin wanted to repeat. Of course, that left him on the wrong end of a fight he should have an advantage in. His taijutsu was useless in this situation, and Jirōbō's powerful blows had clearly caused enough physical damage to make his vision disoriented and put his body in a fair amount of pain. Even standing up hurt.

There was one idea that might work. Because of his practice with targeting pressure points as a fighting style, Harō had a fair knowledge of the human body and its workings. If he could paralyze Jirōbō, he could find enough time to fire off an attack that would actually pierce through the Oto-nin's tough body and kill him. Therein lied the problem, though – he had to actually _paralyze_ his opponent. The surest method, what with Jirōbō dodging his bursts of lightning – was physical contact. But with Harō's body in its current state, he wasn't sure he could get close enough to tag the older male. Which meant…

…_This is going to hurt._

Harō started gathering chakra as he began to hobble away. He would need to time this perfectly. Fortunately, Jirōbō was already stalking up to him, a fierce look upon his face. _Focus,_ chanted Harō mentally, preparing himself for what was to come, _focus, focus…_

"_**Gangeki**_," Jirōbō announced, throwing a heavy punch into Harō's midsection.

_NOW!_ shouted the cobalt-haired boy to himself. In the single moment the fist connected, Harō discharged a flood of lightning chakra into the other male's body. Immediately afterward, he found himself flying backwards (that had quickly become a dangerously frequent occurrence in the course of the fight), the crunch of bones telling him that several ribs had broken from the force of the blow. It took him a number of moments to figure out where he had landed and what was going on, but eventually he was able to focus on the important matter of killing the Sound shinobi.

Harō popped the last of his soldier pills and felt his chakra return, having used most of it to make sure Jirōbō couldn't move. Speaking of which…"What did you do to me?" growled Jirōbō.

The cobalt-haired boy smirked from his downed position. Somewhere along the path his body had taken, the twin katana _**Kiba**_ had fallen from his grasp, leaving him weaponless. He slowly began moving through hand signs, wincing with each one. "I threw a ton of lightning chakra into your body, targeting your nerves. It paralyzed your bodily functions, so that you can't move while I hit you with this attack." Lightning crackled around his hands as he finished the seals. "_**Rai Zenkai**_; Lightning Destruction!" he cried, placing his hands to the earth and allowing the chakra to flow.

Nature's electricity tore through the spot Jirōbō was rooted to, engulfing the bulky male. His strangled shout was cut off rather abruptly, allowing Harō to relax his body and shut his eyes in satisfaction. "Two Sound shinobi toasted with the same technique," he mumbled. "Watch out, shinobi of Amegakure…you're next."

When a shirtless Naruto arrived a little later with an unconscious Fū hefted in a fireman's carry over his shoulder, he could only groan. "I'm tired of finding you unconscious," he informed the prone body of his teammate. He formed an Earth Clone, which promptly fetched Harō's weapons and then grabbed the boy himself. "Come on, we have to see this through to the end." He stumbled slightly as a resonating explosion rustled the trees and peaked high above the canopy. Staring at the source of light and sound, he could only mutter, "Real subtle, Kakuzu."

Then the group of four disappeared into the forest, both Narutos trudging wearily in the direction of the humongous attack.

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu wasn't sure whether to be excited at the level of his opponent's caliber, or pissed that the man simply _would not die. _The thread-creatures that used his lightning and wind hearts descended to his level as he activated the fire heart within his own body. "_**Sanmiittai Kōgeki!**_" Simultaneously, he fired a _**Katon: Zukkoku **_along with the hearts' _**Raiton: Gian**_ and _**Fūton: Atsugai**_.

There was a massive explosion at the junction of the three ninjutsu, reaching hundreds of feet above the treetops and engulfing a wide area inclusive of where Orochimaru had been standing. Kakuzu withheld his gloating triumph until he was sure that the tri-elemental assault had done its job.

He and Orochimaru had been going at it for some time, neither gaining any particularly upper hand against the other (though the former Leaf-nin's antagonizing chuckles had steadily fueled Kakuzu's ire). After losing his water heart to the sword and releasing the fire, wind, and lightning hearts to freely attack, the ex-Taki-nin was careful to avoid his opponent's blade.

That left him with trying to blast the Snake Sannin to death with a variety of elemental ninjutsu, but Orochimaru's serpentine movements allowed him to effectively avoid any pinpoint attacks Kakuzu tried. Not only that, but Kakuzu's powerhouse counter-taijutsu style wasn't able to strike the other nukenin for the same reason. Orochimaru's body modifications – however he had integrated them into his system – allowed him to slither and flow around Kakuzu's blows with the greatest of ease.

Such evasion hardly left Kakuzu scrambling for offensive maneuvers, but having his options limited was frustrating nonetheless.

Using _**Jiongu**_, Kakuzu had managed to keep his prey at a distance, launching his fists across the battlefield and underground, and mingling the attacks with wide-range ninjutsu. As a result, the earth was completely torn up and upended, matching the charred foliage and destruction of what was once Fire Country's luscious forest. The devastation was a testament to how expansive and dangerous the fight between the two S-class nukenin really was.

Not that the fight hadn't had some spectacular results. At some point, Orochimaru had used a rather devious ploy of playing possum with his upper half buried under rubble, only for his head to pop up from the ground and spear Kakuzu through the heart – his earth one – with the Sword of Kusanagi _again_, forcing him to recall his fire heart. On the other hand, Kakuzu had already forced Orochimaru through two of his specialized _**Kawarimi**_, significantly draining the Sannin of his chakra (according to Zetsu's information), which meant he had also killed his prey twice.

The dust and debris from his Trinity Attack cleared to reveal a demonic stone gate – or, at least, the rubble of it – and the supposedly charred form of Orochimaru. Kakuzu felt proud at the destruction of Orochimaru's defense – the _**Rashōmon **_gate had blocked a couple of his earlier assaults – but remained wary. Orochimaru had so far proven he was nothing if not resilient.

Sure enough, the former Konoha-nin rose from the scorched earth, shedding his half-melted skin like the serpents he used. He opened his mouth and spewed forth a horde of hissing snakes, all of which surged forward to overwhelm Kakuzu. The mercenary expelled a swath of flames which spread across the ground and torched the reptiles. "Your defenses are useless," Kakuzu intoned, sounding almost bored, "and your life is forfeit. Do not drag this out unnecessarily. I can make your death painless."

"Ku ku ku…you're quite amusing, Kakuzu-kun, but I believe you're either overestimating your skills or underestimating mine. You see, I've discovered the secret to your jutsu. Those creatures are extra hearts which you've used to extend your life, and when your own heart gives out or is destroyed, you assimilate one of the others to take its place. It's a cute trick, but it only shows that you have yet to discover the secrets of immortality…unlike me."

Kakuzu snorted. "Immortality? Such a thing does not exist. Hide behind your pretenses…you will still die here today."

Instead of responding, Orochimaru slammed his palms to the ground and chuckled, "_**Doton Soseijutsu: Shishi Dojō**_; Earth Release Resurrection Technique: Corpse Soil." Ninja – dressed in the flak jackets native to Konoha and with skin tainted a pale blue – rose from the earth, eyes blank white, and began to stumble towards Kakuzu. His wind and lightning heart creatures took off in different directions, both firing their attacks and decimating the zombie shinobi, but for every one that was neutralized, another took its place. Kakuzu frowned, but decided that whatever this technique was – surely some sort of kinjutsu, with its desecration of the dead – killing its user would certainly stop it. "You'll learn just how wrong you are, Kakuzu-kun," Orochimaru gloated.

The Snake Sannin's maw opened impossibly wide, allowing something long and white to escape. It barreled into the thin, bipedal form of the lightning creature with crushing force, smashing the mask to pieces and destroying the construct. Kakuzu resisted the urge to scowl in irritation as Orochimaru's sibilant laughter echoed around him.

Orochimaru was now a ridiculously long serpent, his scales individual white snakes which hissed and undulated in tandem. Spiky black hair covered a pale, pointed face, accompanied by slit green eyes and several rows of teeth. "This is my true form, the secret to my immortality," hissed the serpent amusedly. "What will you do now, Kakuzu-kun?" he asked, the snakes that composed his body shooting out towards the former Taki-nin.

Kakuzu's wind heart zipped back towards its master, merging seamlessly with him. Threads immediately sprouted from his back, forming a thick spread that was double Kakuzu's own impressive height. His arms split into three segments, connected by the kinjutsu's tendrils, and a foot-long tongue of threads emerged from his mouth. Among the mass on his back, on either side of his head, appeared the wind and fire masks. Despite having the fire heart integrated into his system, Kakuzu could still channel chakra through _**Jiongu **_and shoot attacks from the mask. As it was, the tendrils shot out and wrapped around the snakes to halt their movement, even as more threads separated from the main body and strangled a number of advancing zombies. "You have become quite the nuisance," allowed an aggravated Kakuzu.

In retaliation, Orochimaru sprayed a shower of acid at the older nukenin. Kakuzu bounded away, allowing the liquid to wash over the restrained zombies and threads, melting them on contact. "How annoying," Kakuzu observed, scrutinizing the corroded ends of the black tendrils.

"You can't defeat me," hissed Orochimaru. Even more snakes stretched out from his body, fangs extended to bite Kakuzu. A _**Fūton: Kazekiri **_sheared their heads from their bodies, and the former Taki-nin began to move towards a couple of the remaining trees, away from the snake and his crowd of resurrected shinobi.

"You are not the only one with an ultimate form…" Kakuzu informed his opponent, flexing. "Nnngh…WWWRROOOOAAHH!" Even more black tendrils – innumerable, far more than should've been able to fit in his body – erupted from his arms, forming thick ropes of writhing threads. The kinjutsu curled itself around two sturdy tree trunks, hoisting Kakuzu's main body into the air. More threads thrashed around him, acting like some sort of spastic, extra limbs, while an even longer, twitching thread-tail extended from the base of the nukenin's back. While this form was indeed powerful, it was also very painful to access, and left Kakuzu quite worn out afterwards. His tail folded over his head and slammed the ground, crushing the zombie shinobi underneath and fracturing the earth to make the rest stumble.

The battlefield had turned into a clash of monsters.

Orochimaru glided forward with the intention of swallowing Kakuzu's main body before his extensions could interfere. Several of his undead minions were crushed beneath his giant form as he veered in between the pillars of slicing wind and bursts of fire that were shot from Kakuzu's masks. The smaller 'limbs' that surrounded Kakuzu's form dove forward, intent on stopping the serpent's advance. Orochimaru dispatched a number of larger snakes to wrap around the thrashing threads and hold them in place. With a victorious cry of, "You're mine!", Orochimaru hurtled himself through the air, jaws opened wide to devour Kakuzu.

He stopped short with a choked gurgle. Black tendrils were jutted into and through his throat, extending from Kakuzu's tail, under the ground, and then piercing upwards. "You are overconfident, Orochimaru," intoned the thread-wielder, "and you ran through too much chakra in your fight with the Sandaime Hokage and then myself. This 'immortal' –", he spoke the word mockingly, "— form of yours only provides a bigger target for me." With a thought, the threads multiplied and sharpened, rending the snake's head from its body. Blood oozed from the wound as the tendrils being held by the other snakes turned on their captors and skewered the reptiles. "As I said, there is no such thing as immortality."

Kakuzu turned his attention to the resurrected Leaf shinobi, who continued to crawl towards him in droves. A _**Katon: Zukkoku**_ seared the frontrunners in blazing orange-yellow fire. _Curious,_ he thought, _that the technique is still active._ Green eyes narrowed in suspicion. The threads quickly formed a wide shield in front of Kakuzu, protecting their master from a vile spray of acid.

An amused hissing sound made its way to the mercenary's ears. "Ku ku ku, you were saying, Kakuzu-kun?" Said nukenin looked at the formerly dead serpent, only to find that the two pieces of the body had reconnected. "I _am_ immortal," sibilated the Snake Sannin, rearing back to prepare for another strike.

Kakuzu snorted. "It appears as though physically separating your body will not work. I will just have to try another method. _**Jigoku Arashi!**_" The fire mask expelled yellow-white flames at Orochimaru, while the wind mask blew out a massive cyclone. Both elements combined to form a swirling vortex of fire, which, due to the wind element, quickly expanded to encompass an area hundreds of feet in diameter. It engulfed Orochimaru and remained burning for several minutes. When it dissipated to nothing, the charbroiled body of the Snake Sannin could be seen still smoldering.

Something shot out from the snake's mouth, and Orochimaru's obnoxious chuckling resounded in Kakuzu's ears again. The white snake looked unharmed, and Kakuzu's analytical eyes watched as the shod skin dissolved into tiny pieces of ash. "When will you learn, Kakuzu-kun?" taunted the serpent.

_That mocking tone of familiarity of his has become unbelievably irritating._ As the fire and wind hearts continue to fire bursts of their elements intermixed with jabs by _**Jiongu**_ to keep Orochimaru on the defensive, Kakuzu considered his options. _Through whatever means, Orochimaru appears impervious to any form of physical assault. It could be another facet of his Body Replacement Technique, but judging by my own reserves, he should be unable to utilize it. The only conclusion is that it is some aspect of his so-called immortal body…and without any information from Zetsu as to this form's weakness, I only have one option._ Kakuzu grimaced at the thought. _It is fortunate that I reviewed this technique during the brats' exams…though I will have to demand my money from Akatsuki for this service, since there will be no body._

The technique he was preparing to use was dangerous in the extreme, even considering the kinjutsu housed within his body. It was a sealing jutsu, detailed in the _**Jiongu**_ scroll as risky in the best of situations for the user as far as long-term effects went. Basically, it used the kinjutsu to bind and suppress the target before absorbing him or her into the user's body, in the same fashion all the tendrils of Earth Grudge Fear existed within the body. However, it apparently required a tremendous amount of willpower – as well as sacrificing some of _**Jiongu**_'s sentience and mobility – to keep the other person restrained permanently. If Kakuzu ever wavered in keeping the Snake Sannin repressed, Orochimaru could theoretically be released into the world again (and would most likely kill Kakuzu in the process). On the other hand, if Kakuzu died without releasing his prisoner, Orochimaru would die alongside him.

From what Kakuzu had read, it almost sounded like a method to seal a Bijū into a human, though obviously altered somewhat. Really, it had been a last resort – a failsafe, so to speak – on the off-chance Orochimaru proved to be too much for him to handle. The fact that he had to use it…well, it spoke volumes of the Snake Sannin's ingenuity and skill. It was little wonder that he had been hailed as a genius.

"Ku ku ku, have you given up Kakuzu-kun? My my, how disappointing."

"Hardly," Kakuzu grunted. His tail whipped around and wrapped itself around Orochimaru, numerous threads piercing into the snakes that made up the nukenin's scales. While the Snake Sannin tried to shift around to create space with which to escape, Kakuzu finished his final seal. "_**Jiongu Fūin: Kokoro no Kyūshū**_…" Every thread connected to his body glowed blue, his tail curling even more tightly around Orochimaru's serpentine form and smothering the Sannin, cutting off his hissed protests of rage.

The threads constricted and shrank, eventually withdrawing into Kakuzu's body with barely a sound. All the remaining tendrils followed suit, flowing back into their master's body and returning his form to its ragdoll-like state; the wind heart traced the stitches across his back, settling into its original position as the tiger mask which had housed his fire heart fractured and broke, its purpose nullified with the conclusion of the battle. With no more support, Kakuzu dropped to the ground, falling to one knee and panting hard. A black ring – identically to the one _**Jiongu**_ had marked his forearms with so many years ago – decorated his waist, just above the hem of his pants (his sleeveless shirt was torn during the transformation). He fingered it idly, tracing its path from one side to the other with the presumption that it encircled his back as well. "Earth Grudge Fear Seal: Soul Absorption," he muttered gutturally, "…a powerful technique indeed." Glancing around, he noticed the lack of zombie ninja and the general devastation of the area.

A low whistle caught his attention. "Boy Kakuzu-san, you certainly made a mess here."

"Zetsu," growled Kakuzu, hiding a wince. His ultimate form and the sealing technique had put a fair strain on his body, and looking weak in front of another S-class missing-nin was not the best idea. "What are you doing here?"

"I got bored waiting for everyone!" chirped the white side cheerfully as he stepped out from one of the trees still standing in the area. "You sure took a long time. **Where is Orochimaru's body?"**

"Obliterated," replied the older nukenin curtly. If the plant-man hadn't seen the Snake Sannin being sealed into Kakuzu's body, the thread-user wasn't about to reveal such sensitive information. "I still expect to be compensated for my labors."

"**You will have to talk to Leader-sama about that,"** returned Black Zetsu. **"Your students are approaching."**

Sure enough, two Narutos entered the clearing, one with Fū and the other with Harō slung over their shoulders. What Kakuzu presumed to be the original whistled in sheer awe. "Damn Kakuzu, what happened here?"

"A clash of titans," he responded easily. Teacher took in student's appearance, noting the new suture that ran from the blonde's collarbone to his side. "They say mimicry is the greatest form of flattery," he stated idly, "though I am currently hard-pressed to feel such sentiment."

Naruto scratched his head nervously. "Oh, ha ha, you mean this? Yeah, kinda ran into a little bit of trouble. No worries though!"

"If you had died, you would not have been worthy of inheriting _**Jiongu**_. That mark on your face looks absolutely ridiculous," he continued, noting the web-like pattern across Naruto's visage.

"**While stimulating," **interjected Black Zetsu sarcastically, interrupting any retort Naruto was prepared to give, **"we have a schedule to keep. **Follow us!"

Zetsu began to move among the trees, popping up in random places so Kakuzu and Naruto could keep track of his position. "We require haste," Kakuzu said. "Give me the boy." The Earth Clone passed Harō to the older shinobi and crumbled, prompting both thread-wielders to take off.

After what felt like a fair amount of travel, the quintet came across a small gathering of people. Kakuzu's eyes narrowed at the strange company.

Atop an off-white bird – clay, he presumed, from knowledge of the person's deeds – was a young blonde with a slashed Iwagakure _hitae-ate_: Deidara, a terrorist bomber. That was where his knowledge ended; none of the other people were listed within his Bingo Book. Seated behind the blonde was a hunched figure covered almost completely in an Akatsuki outfit. Zetsu's black and white face peered out from the trunk of a tree, next to which stood a dark-haired man in a swirled orange mask. Off to the side was an intimidating man with spiky orange hair similar to Naruto's, ringed grey eyes, and various piercings all over his face. The aura he exuded marked him clearly as Akatsuki's leader.

"Ah, Zetsu-san, Zetsu-san, you're back!" waved the masked shinobi.

"**Be serious, Tobi.** Don't be mean, Tobi is a good boy."

"Enough."

The single word uttered from the mouth of the orange-haired man was enough to make the clearing fall silent. _Impressive,_ Kakuzu thought. The leader continued, "Tobi, the cloak."

"A-ah, here you go, Leader-sama!"

The orange-haired man turned his attention to Kakuzu. "You took care of Orochimaru?"

"Yes, though there is no physical proof given the…extreme measures I was forced to utilize."

The other man studied him for a moment before nodding imperceptibly. "Very well. You will be paid through funds Akatsuki has collected in compensation for Orochimaru's bounty, to be used at your discretion." He turned his attention to Deidara. "You collected the Ichibi?"

"Yeah, hm. Took some effort, but he was no match for my art!"

"Good. We must conduct the ceremony before the Jinchūriki regains consciousness. Here," he said, throwing the Akatsuki cloak and a dark green ring with the word 'north' imprinted on it to Kakuzu, who caught both with one hand. "Tobi," he added, tossing a second ring – the one he'd gotten from Orochimaru's base – at the masked male, who fumbled with it briefly before sliding it upon his left pinkie finger.

"Welcome to Akatsuki."

-l-l-l-

"Uchiha Sasuke is dead."

The line was delivered without emotion, as shinobi of ROOT were taught. Sai was knelt on one knee in front of Danzō, who was currently seated behind the Hokage desk, the red and white conical hat with the symbol for 'fire' placed atop his head. The hat's angle kept most of the aged man's face hidden from view, so Sai was unable to read any reaction to the news…not that Danzō would probably have one anyway.

"An unfortunate loss," Danzō replied at length, "but not an irreplaceable one." Danzō fell into contemplative silence, analyzing the consequences of such information. After being assigned to massacre his family, Itachi had made Danzō and the other two Elders swear that Sasuke would both come to no harm and remain unaware of his clan's true intentions for overthrowing Konoha's government. Sasuke's death, while not a byproduct of anything he had done, might still have negative repercussions for Danzō. What those were would remain to be seen. "What of the three Genin who accompanied you?"

"Aburame Shino, Hyūga Neji, and Nara Shikamaru," Sai clarified. "Cooperatively, we managed to incapacitate over a score of Otogakure shinobi, ranging in rank from low-Chūnin to mid-Jōnin, according to preliminary interrogation. Based on skill, I would instead say they ranged from Genin to high-Chūnin.

"All three Genin are currently hospitalized for a variety of injuries, including ruptured eardrums, chakra exhaustion, various broken bones, a concussion, and a lacerated liver. Those are all based on observation. The medical staff should have a full report for you by the end of the day. They...show promise," he concluded.

"Interesting," mulled the ROOT leader. "I shall have to investigate the matter of their skills personally. In the meantime, you're dismissed." Sai bowed stiffly and exited the room, left hand clutching his right shoulder and a slight limp to his gait. Danzō watched him go with mercilessly indifferent eyes. The boy was a good operative, and smart enough to get himself healed properly. His age and undercover experience with the peers in his 'graduating class' would give Danzō an edge in potentially swaying those three boys to ROOT.

Not that the elderly man even needed ROOT too badly anymore. With Sarutobi Hiruzen dead at the hand of his former student, Danzō had been elected to the position of interim Hokage, soon to be officially recognized as the Godaime. With the position came authority over the ANBU, which Danzō had partially modeled ROOT after.

Still, the aged leader felt more comfortable utilizing the shinobi he had personally looked after and trained, finding their lack of emotions more effective for mission success than the average ANBU. While keeping the Black Ops program up as the Hokage's official soldiers, Danzō would continue to run the covert ROOT program and convert new additions where he could to breed better shinobi.

It was finally Shimura Danzō's turn to rule Konohagakure, and he was going to make sure the village was strong. Certainly nothing like the invasion of the Sand and Sound would happen during his reign.

There was still something to be taken care of though. During the third round of the Chūnin Exams, Danzō had noticed the blonde hair and crystal blue eyes of a Rain shinobi fighting against a couple of Taki-nin. The features were oddly reminiscent of Konoha's lost Jinchūriki (not to mention bearing a striking resemblance to the Yondaime Hokage).

Over the years, ROOT members had been dispatched to search for the Kyūbi's host (along with the more incompetent members of Sarutobi's ANBU), though they had turned up nothing. The day the boy had been discovered missing was a sore reminder of how lax the Sandaime's rule had been. Sarutobi had accused Danzō of the blonde's mysterious disappearance, and although the idea had crossed the man's mind more than once, he had decided to abide by his rival's (foolish) wishes and leave the child alone. With the boy gone, Danzō had lamented the loss of such a powerful weapon. But now, here appeared a young male with similar features to the Jinchūriki's, not to mention the fact that he seemed to be of the right age.

Danzō wanted his weapon back. The boy had displayed an impressive amount of skill, which meant that he had clearly found a teacher (or been kidnapped and brainwashed). While it would take work, the aged leader could manipulate the child's mind back to serving Konoha, and would grant the Hidden Leaf a huge power boost when Danzō's plans eventually came to fruition.

However, there was no telling how skilled the Jinchūriki was with the Bijū's power. Tracking and restraining him without killing him would require abilities and finesse his ROOT shinobi didn't particularly excel in. He pressed the button on his desk which linked him to the secretary outside and uttered into the speaker:

"Find and bring me Tenzō."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Ahhh, four and a half months later, the Chūnin Exam Arc is finally completed! And with the longest chapter to date, too. Apologies for the delay…I took the summer off to spend time with family/friends, and then school has been…hectic and busy, to say the least. But hey, some of the people I watch haven't updated their stories (which are far better than mine) in a year and half to three years, so be grateful for what you get, right?

Writing Orochimaru was not fun. Nor was doing half a dozen fight scenes, which I do not pride myself on. Hopefully everything came out okay. I got 50+ reviews in the time it took to put this out, which is _unbelievable_, and there were really only a couple of critiques, which is even _more _unbelievable. (Reading all the different opinions on Sasuke's status [as well as Temari's…WTH?] was kinda entertaining, but this should put to bed any questions.) I can only pray this reached your expectations. If anyone was curious, Kakuzu's 'ultimate form' is based on the boss battle from the PS3's Ultimate Ninja Storm 2. Stay tuned to see how Naruto and Fū manage with Kakuzu as Akatsuki's newest member!

Anyway, drop me a review if you could and let me know what you think!


	13. Initiation

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

Kakuzu couldn't say for sure where the motley crew of nukenin was heading. Fire Country, for all intents and purposes, was an endless barrage of greenery. His sense of direction told him they were heading north-northeast – back towards the Valley of the End – but there was no telling what the group's purpose in venturing that way was.

Not for the first time, the mercenary dug into the inside of the Akatsuki cloak he now wore and pulled out the ring Pein had given him. He had thus far neglected in putting it on, unsure of any ceremony involved or what purpose the item even served, barring the fact that it allowed for acceptance into Akatsuki. Still, there had to be something more…why else would each ring have different colors and symbols?

"You should put that on."

Kakuzu's attention was drawn to the masked figure of Tobi, bounding alongside him. Across the other male's back was the unconscious form of Harō, which Tobi had – rather cheerfully – offered to carry. The other Akatsuki-nin had thus far proven to be obnoxiously happy, and with Pein leading the procession, Deidara and his slouched companion flying above the treetops, Zetsu already gone, and Naruto lagging behind with Fū, Kakuzu seemed to be his default conversation partner.

It was not a role the former Taki-nin enjoyed being cast in. "I am well aware of the general procedure regarding materialistic possessions," he ground out.

"…Ah ha ha, Kakuzu-san, you talk funny!"

From ahead of them, Pein intoned warningly, "Tobi..."

"A-ah, sorry Leader-sama, Kakuzu-san." The masked shinobi fell silent for a moment, as if repenting for his actions, before stage-whispering to Kakuzu, "Zetsu-san told me that anyone who wears a ring is an official member. Each of the rings goes on a different finger, to show that only ten people can be part of Akatsuki at one time." He brought up his left hand to admire the slate blue ring with the character _kū _placed on his pinky. "Mm, if I remember what Zetsu-san told me, your ring is supposed to go on your left middle finger. Give it a try, Kakuzu-san!"

Kakuzu ignored the peppiness of the other shinobi, choosing instead to look back at his protégé. Naruto was struggling under the burden of carrying Fū's body while moving through Fire Country. Still, the blonde was bearing his load in silence, his face a stony mask of seriousness. _He must have learned something from his experiences fighting in the Hidden Leaf. _Green eyes shifted to stare at the new suture that decorated the blonde's chest. _The price for power…_ Kakuzu was almost…_proud_…of Naruto's achievements and growth – not that he would tell his student that. Truly the boy was growing up per Kakuzu's intentions.

The mercenary returned his gaze to the ring in his hand. If he wanted to stand a chance at postponing and/or preventing Naruto's (and Fū's) death(s), he would need to do so from within the organization. Without a second thought, he slipped the band on his third finger. The dark green gem that composed the core of the ring emitted a similarly colored light, making the word _hoku_ stand out starkly in comparison. Ahead of him, Pein seemed to tilt his head in acknowledgment of the act.

Apparently, Kakuzu had successfully passed some sort of test.

It took another couple hours for the group to reach their destination, a small grove of trees at the delta of a river. A tag with the label 'forbidden' was stuck on one of the trunks, but Pein merely lifted up his right thumb – where his ring was placed – and the ground began to rumble. In short order, a staircase that wound out of sight had appeared in the ground. Tobi set Harō against a nearby tree and practically skipped into the tunnel, followed by Deidara's slouched partner (Zetsu had mentioned Sasori when giving a rundown of Orochimaru's abilities; perhaps this was the Hidden Sand's legendary Akasuna no Sasori?) and then the former Iwa-nin himself. Pein turned his full attention to Kakuzu before the taller shinobi could move towards the opening. "This is for members only. The children stay here."

"For what duration?"

"It will take three days to seal the Ichibi."

Kakuzu nodded in understanding. "You heard the man, brat."

Naruto opened his mouth as if to protest, but then closed it. Kakuzu was not a man to be trifled with, and it seemed as if Pein was even less of one. The blonde nodded reluctantly, figuring he could take the time to rest and wait for Fū and Harō to awaken. His teacher gave him a curt head bob before disappearing into the darkness. Pein fixed the Jinchūriki with an intense stare before following behind; the second the orange-haired man was out of sight, the ground shifted back to cover up the hole.

There was barely enough light to see by when the stairs opened into an expansive, but surprisingly empty, cavern. Comparatively, the base Zetsu had led him to before the Chūnin Exams to cement his team's cover was rather small. In the middle of the cavern stood Deidara, his partner, and Tobi in a loose circle around the prone form of the Ichibi Jinchūriki; Deidara's clay owl was nowhere to be seen. Pein moved past him and performed a sequence of familiar seals. "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu,**_" he intoned.

A massive rumbling shook the cavern as a gigantic statue rose from the ground. Judging by appearances, it was probably demonic in origin, with shackles cuffing its wrists and a scroll clenched between its teeth. _That would explain the enormity of this hideout,_ Kakuzu observed silently.

"Assemble," Pein ordered. Immediately, multicolored holographic images of four figures – one the telltale appearance of Zetsu, the others Konan, Itachi, and Kisame by process of elimination – phased into existence upon the outstretched, cuffed hands of the statue, taking up the spaces on the left ring and right pinkie, middle, and ring fingers. The physically present people leapt to their own digits, leaving only the left middle and pointer fingers empty. Kakuzu was a second behind in taking his place upon the middle one, based simply on the position of his ring. He watched as Pein continued to form seals, the scroll falling from the statue's mouth as green lights appeared on the statue's fingers, illuminated with the symbols upon Akatsuki's rings. A giant ball of blue chakra gathered in the statue's mouth, and Kakuzu began to concentrate his own chakra in mimicry of the other members. "_**Fūinjutsu: Genryū Kyūfūjin.**_"

Nine blue dragons – composed, Kakuzu assumed, of the chakra of all the S-class missing-nin – roared from the statue's mouth, descending upon the unconscious vessel of the Ichibi Jinchūriki. Red matter – demonic chakra, perhaps – began to leak from the Sand Genin's mouth and eyes. _A sealing technique which seems to separate the mixed chakra of a Bijū from its container…most impressive. Highly complex._

_Three days here…_ Green eyes focused intently on the spiky-haired form of Akatsuki's leader. _And then what, I wonder._

-l-l-l-

Naruto sat against one of the trees which hid the secret entrance to one of Akatsuki's lairs, expression pensive. Fū's and Harō's prone forms lay against separate trunks, cuts and bruises scattered liberally across their bodies. _They could probably use a med-nin._ He stared at his own hands. _Pity I know nothing about the medical arts._ The blonde wondered idly if Kakuzu knew any, but quickly dismissed the thought. Surely _**Jiongu**_ could take care of any injuries the older male suffered, limited though they were sure to be.

_I wonder… _He brought his arm up perpendicular to his body, examining the black tattoo and sutures of _**Jiongu**_ scattered along the limb. "Can you heal?" he asked aloud.

There was a collection of images and thoughts that passed through his mind, the kinjutsu's strange method of communication giving him pause. No, the threads could really only heal their host's body, but if manipulated properly they could be used for certain other applications. "Alright," he said, "let's experiment." With that, he got to his feet and walked over to Harō.

The cobalt-haired boy had definitely seen better days. Naruto divested the Ame-nin of his shirt, which was smeared with dirt and blood, to better access and assess the boy's wounds. Large bruises decorated Harō's torso, blotching the pale skin with bluish-purple splotches. The blonde placed one hand upon his teammate's torso and pressed gently. There was a somewhat crunchy feeling at the spot, and Naruto barely withheld a wince that contained a glimmer of his teacher's sadistic grin. "Ooh, that sounds _nasty_. Probably a couple of broken ribs…maybe some fractures, handful of punctured organs? Not that I have any idea what I'm talking about," he admitted aloud. "Well, let's see what you can do."

A handful of threads slithered forth from his tattoo and wormed their way into Harō's body. Naruto observed the proceedings with mild curiosity, noting how the kinjutsu was merging with the Ame-nin's body in a more cautious manner than he'd seen them do with others in the past. Maybe, he considered, it was because Harō was someone whom he had associated with and relied upon, whereas everyone else was an enemy, but that was an idea for another time. Through his connection with the tendrils, the blonde could somewhat sense the layout of Harō's body, as well as a better understanding of the boy's injuries.

Black threads wrapped tightly around a number of Harō's broken ribs, detaching from the main mass to bind and set the fragmented pieces to ensure a proper and quicker healing. They wormed their way throughout the Ame-nin's body, stitching a small puncture in one lung and a number of perforations in the kidneys. "Man," Naruto observed, trying to take note of what the threads were doing and only half-understanding the images he was seeing, "did you get a number done on you. Musta pissed off that fat guy something fierce."

The tendrils withdrew from Harō's skin, leaving no trace of their entry. Naruto moved over to Fū, intent on giving her the same treatment, and paused.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, the blonde recognized that what he was about to do was wrong. Not in the sense of being _bad_ – he was trying to help a friend, after all – but that the situation he was about to enter was…_inappropriate_. Fū was not Harō…the idea of removing her clothing invoked a strange feeling of impropriety.

Of course, the difference was obvious: Fū was a girl. Females, he knew from lessons and lectures with both Ryo and Kakuzu, didn't possess the same physiology as males.

Naruto's hesitance in his present situation was understandable given that, barring the limited time he had spent with his fellow Jinchūriki, his experience with women was nonexistent. Kakuzu made a point to avoid interacting with people as much as possible, and aside from the basic biological differences taught to him for the simple sake of being educated, elaboration upon the topic of the opposite sex had been and still was completely unnecessary. After all, he was still only 12 – though close to his thirteenth birthday! – and thus not driven by hormones. That wasn't even considering that Kakuzu _absolutely_ seemed like the type to advocate his pupil's disinterest in engaging in relationships with the opposite sex, and would do so by any means necessary. Naruto didn't even want to delve into the methods his teacher would go to prevent such a situation from arising.

None of those thoughts really registered in the Kyūbi Jinchūriki's brain. All he could say for sure was that some deeper instinct felt that there was some line he was about to cross that he _should_ know about, and yet didn't. Social protocols hardly existed in the world of a rogue shinobi.

Carefully, Naruto removed the girl's top layers of clothing and placed them upon the strange red cylinder she always carried around with her. The tanned smoothness of Fū's flat abdomen greeted his vision, a sight he remembered from her usual attire. Thankfully, a series of bandages was wrapped around her chest in a display of modesty he was intuitively grateful for. He released a sigh of relief he didn't know he'd been holding, the niggling feeling of awkwardness dispersed from his system.

The facts that Fū was only 13, hadn't yet gone through puberty, owed Naruto her life, and was as flat as a board never even crossed the blonde's mind.

He went through the same process he had with Harō, allowing _**Jiongu**_ to burrow into her system and fix any irregularities it could. The threads bound a couple of ribs and repaired a small problem with the liver before leaving her body. Apparently Fū had suffered similar injuries to Harō, though to a smaller degree of damage. Her shoulder looked offset, but with no real medical knowledge, Naruto wasn't about to try to correct the injury. He re-clothed his companion and then settled back into his original spot against the tree, pensive again.

The question of where to go from here burned in his mind. Kakuzu, his mentor, was now a member of an elite organization focused on capturing the Bijū, which he and Fū, his only real friend, contained. Even assuming that Kakuzu didn't actively pursue and/or betray them, Akatsuki still had plenty of other members who could easily find and restrain the two Jinchūriki. They could possibly escape for a little bit, maybe build up their strength and hope to take on the Akatsuki, but every road he could imagine eventually ended in them getting caught.

So where did that leave them?

Their other option, Naruto supposed, was one of those insane, albeit crazy-enough-to-work ideas. Basically, he and Fū could work alongside Akatsuki, potentially even aiding them in achieving their goal. Of course, the plan also involved using the closeness to exploit any weaknesses within the organization. By gathering information on what each of the members could do in terms of skill, as well as their personalities, idiosyncrasies, et cetera, evading them and prolonging his and Fū's capture became easier.

Naturally, all this was theoretical, but it wasn't like he had much in the way of options. Stay and either buy time and gain valuable intelligence and resources, or get immediately captured (and most likely killed); leave, get no resources, and be captured at some indeterminable future point in time. The decision seemed relatively simple, even considering the risk.

Naruto maneuvered his body to better watch Fū, studying the rise and fall of her chest with strange intensity. For some reason, the idea that some random ninja had been able to do so much damage to her didn't sit well with him. Fū was strong and capable, and beyond that, someone who knew what it was like to walk in every aspect of Naruto's shoes. To lose her was unacceptable.

With that, the blonde's decision was made for him. He would have to play his cards right, hope that Kakuzu – in his strange helping-in-roundabout-manners methodology – would stick by his pupils, and pray that he was lucky enough that Akatsuki would rather make use of two wayward Jinchūriki who could do them a fair amount of good in the short-term rather than kill them, but he would do everything in his power to protect Fū and simply survive.

In the meantime, he still had the better part of three days before he could even put his plan into action, so he settled back and allowed his eyes to close as a wave of tiredness washed over him.

-l-l-l-

The prone form of the red-headed Ichibi Jinchūriki – Gaara, Kakuzu believed his name was, not that it mattered anymore – fell to the cavern floor. A pupil appeared in one of the statue's eyes, and the mercenary could only extrapolate that the Bijū had been extracted to the statue, leaving its host dead. The other members released their seals, prompting Kakuzu to do the same, and he resisted the urge to stretch his stiff muscles after three days of non-movement.

That was when Pein began speaking.

"We have annexed the Sound Country from Orochimaru, and the treacherous snake has been disposed of," he announced in a grand monotone. "As such, our base of operations will be moved to Otogakure, and all our future movements shall be coordinated from there. I will be there shortly to oversee the transition," he directed to Konan.

He looked around at the rest of the organization. "In the meantime, the rest of you will continue with your assignments. There is still much to be done before our ultimate goal is achieved." Ringed grey eyes turned to focus on the tall nukenin. "Kakuzu, stay."

The four holographic projections fizzled and disappeared. Deidara leapt from his perch and threw out a clay bird which promptly multiplied in size. "Better get a move on, Sasori no Danna!" he crowed. "You haven't fulfilled your quota yet, hm!"

"Impudent brat," intoned Sasori, jumping to the floor and landing with a heavy _clunk_. "The best masterpieces take time," he stated warningly, shuffling towards the exit. The pair's bickering voices could be heard echoing around the space as they departed. Kakuzu's green eyes watched them go, flickering briefly over to catch Tobi wave a farewell and disappear as silence engulfed the remaining two.

He descended to the level of the orange-haired man. "You wish to speak with me?" he prompted.

The shorter man studied him carefully while Kakuzu did the same. For both, it was a measure of the other's character, a test of their mettle in the face of another powerful presence. Kakuzu was sure that the younger male had some knowledge of what he could do, and while Pein's abilities were still an unknown, the fact that he led an organization composed of other S-class criminals spoke highly of the strength and respect he commanded. Still, Kakuzu was not one to be subordinated so easily, and he refused to succumb to Pein's scrutinizing gaze.

After a long moment, Pein blinked, causing the spell between the two to break. "You know of Akatsuki's goals?"

"I know enough," Kakuzu replied easily. He couldn't say with certainty that he knew every aspect of the organization's plans, but he could piece together what he did know and draw conclusions from there. Kakuzu would not cede any weakness – whether physical or mental – in front of this man; the more it appeared he knew without being told, the more respect he could garner from Pein because of his knowledge.

Even if some of said knowledge was a bluff.

The orange-haired man nodded. "Your assignment is the Rokubi no Namekuji, the Six-Tailed Slug. Last we heard, it was within the possession of Kirigakure, but that was years ago and the Bloodline Purges may have resulted in the Jinchūriki's demise. According to what limited records we have found, the Six-Tails is rather intelligent and reclusive. This is why I have assigned it to you."

That made sense to Kakuzu; you wanted someone who was good at hiding retrieved, send a bounty hunter. He inclined his head and turned to leave, but Pein's voice cut him off. "Akatsuki members work in pairs."

"…I work alone."

"You have been in the company of another for many years now."

"Extenuating circumstances. He is…valuable."

"I am well aware of the Kyūbi Jinchūriki's 'value', as you put it." Kakuzu turned around slowly to face Pein, face betraying nothing. "Uzumaki Naruto, container of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, sealed within him by his own father, the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato. I also know that you have more recently taken the Jinchūriki of the Nanabi under your wing."

_He is well informed._ Of course, Kakuzu had already been threatened with the loss of Fū before by Konan, but the fact that Pein knew of Naruto – while not completely surprising – was still bad. It was like an intricate dance where both people were trying to lead, and Kakuzu was quickly losing ground. "If you know so much, then you must know of my…tendencies."

"If you're referring to your sadism and temper, then yes, Zetsu has informed me of such. I have found you the ideal partner, though attempts to recruit him have been unsuccessful thus far."

Kakuzu arched an eyebrow skeptically. _To have planned so far ahead as to find me a partner before I even joined…he has impressive foresight. _"Then how exactly is this person going to become my partner?"

"You have a quality I believe he will find…tempting. Here," he stated, throwing a slim folder at the newest member, "information for you. Finding this man is your first priority. I will contact you when he has joined our ranks."

"And you will know of this how?"

Pein tossed a small object at him, which Kakuzu caught easily. He turned it over in his hand, studying the ring with the character _san_ inscribed on an orange gemstone. "That will be enough," Pein said. Kakuzu nodded and turned to leave, but apparently the orange-haired man wasn't done. "The Jinchūriki…what are your feelings towards them?" When the mercenary didn't immediately respond, Pein continued, "You know that this process kills the Jinchūriki." Kakuzu's green eyes flickered over to Gaara's corpse. "They will eventually be sacrificed for Akatsuki's goals."

"They are outside, weakened and outnumbered. Why not just capture them now?"

"…The time is not right."

_Hm. Perhaps there is an order to the sealing that prevents the higher Bijū from being extracted too early._ "The children are of little consequence to me," he responded flippantly. "However, I believe it would be prudent to speak to them before committing to any decisions. They have a propensity for being…profitable." Kakuzu took Pein's lack of response as his cue to leave, headed for the stairs. Before he moved completely out of earshot, Kakuzu stated smoothly, "I will be taking the children with me on this mission. The experience will be useful, should you decide to implement their talents into your plans."

Kakuzu's footsteps seemed unnaturally loud in the quiet of the stairwell as he ascended. The monotonic sound offered him little reprieve from the many thoughts bouncing around his mind. There was little doubt that he was walking a thin line between trying to keep the Jinchūriki alive and abiding by Akatsuki's wishes. At some point in the future, Naruto and Fū would have had to survive on their own merit anyway, but Kakuzu was hoping to ingrain more survival instincts in them before that day came. Now, his time to do so seemed to be severely constricted. Even more frustrating was the lack of an exact timeframe he had to impart such wisdom to them. Kakuzu's process was slow and methodical, training while seeming to not really train at all. Time constraints hindered that process. While he could stall on the capture of his Bijū, that would draw suspicion towards him, and as the newest member and most connected to Naruto and Fū, he was probably already under scrutiny. He would have to make his moves carefully.

The bounty hunter emerged into muted sunlight, the canopy providing a shield to the harsh mid-afternoon sun. Green eyes blinked slowly in the limited light before Kakuzu turned to look for his pupils. Naruto was standing next to and slightly in front of a sitting Fū, whose back was against a tree, bandages wrapped around her torso. Opposite them was Zetsu, in the process of melding out of a tree. Both Tobi and Harō stood in between the two parties, an innocently curious tilt to the former's head. The former Taki-nin cleared his throat. Naruto's head swiveled towards the noise, his expression lighting up as he exclaimed, "Kakuzu!"

Said mercenary ignored the rather exuberant greeting and turned to face Zetsu. "Zetsu," he greeted in a monotone, "to what do we owe this…_pleasure_?"

"Ah, Kakuzu-san, don't be like that!" White Zetsu offered cheerfully. **"We have only come to return your belongings from the other base."** The plant-man held out a bundle of clothes, and Kakuzu took the proffered head and mouth covering and slashed through _hitae-ate_. He put them on with disguised haste, more comfortable in his usual garb with the facial stitches and hair hidden beneath cloth; the new Akatsuki cloak was essentially a carbon copy of his old one, albeit with the red cloud design. Fully garbed, he watched as Naruto hesitantly grabbed his and Fū's clothing, the blonde's blue eyes never losing their cautious skepticism. Zetsu stared back unblinkingly.

Kakuzu cleared his throat again. "Anything else?"

"**No,"** Zetsu replied, shifting his normal eye to look at Kakuzu. "We're going to take Harō with us. Good luck with your mission! **Come, Tobi."** The plant-man remerged with the tree as Tobi grabbed Harō and waved a cheery farewell before disappearing into a vortex of swirling energy, not even giving the cobalt-haired boy a chance to say goodbye.

Naruto and Fū watched in mute shock. "…They're fucking weird," commented the blonde at length. "I might miss Harō, though."

Kakuzu mentally agreed that the blonde's first statement was accurate. "Come," he motioned, moving north, "we have work to do."

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki helped Fū to her feet. He slid on the shirt and vest Kakuzu had given him long ago, relaxing into the fit of familiar clothes. "We?" he asked, curiosity piqued.

"Yes."

When the mercenary didn't elaborate, Fū piped up. "What are we doing?"

"Searching for someone."

Naruto scowled in frustration. "Could you possibly be _any_ more vague?"

Kakuzu lowered his voice, though it retained his gruff register. "Here is not the proper setting with which to discuss such information." Naruto glanced behind him, spying Pein standing at the entrance to the hideout, watching them depart. He opted to stay quiet after that, following Kakuzu with Fū walking along beside him.

They plodded along at a rather sedate pace for a number of hours, despite the urgency Naruto felt Kakuzu should have had to get away from Pein. As evening fell, Kakuzu had them stop to set up a small camp in the middle of the forest. When dawn broke the next day, Kakuzu kicked them awake and set off without another word, forcing his students to follow behind. The blonde remained in a dour mood the whole trip, irked at Kakuzu's easy dismissal of his previous questions and refusal to elaborate. The fact that the older ninja would merely get some sort of sick satisfaction from denying Naruto access to information he wanted – their destination and goal – helped prevent him from asking again. Only Fū's warm hand in his own kept him from actually lashing out at his teacher.

Again, he was struck with a strange sense of awkward foreboding at the gesture. It was nice to have someone around who could placate his temper – especially since getting into anything with Kakuzu was bound to have disastrous (and painful) results for him – but he felt that there was some significance to the handholding that he was missing. What did it mean, the simple clasping of hands? Was he really okay with Fū being able to read him so easily?

…Yes, he allowed after a moment of thought, perhaps having his fellow Jinchūriki know him so well was a good thing. It certainly prevented him from raising Kakuzu's ire unnecessarily and taking a beating. Still, was there something more he wasn't able to read into?

Over the past three days, he had noticed a trend in his pattern of thinking related to the green-haired girl. When Harō had, surprisingly, regained consciousness first, Naruto had immediately pressured the boy into assessing Fū's condition. The grey-eyed male had done so with tired reluctance, only Naruto's wordless guarantee of pain if he refused rousing Harō to action. After wrapping her torso in bandages to set her ribs – a precaution, Harō had stated after Naruto had explained what he had done with the threads – he had reset her shoulder, forcing Fū to emit a low moan of pain. Naruto had tensed at the sound, but then relaxed when Harō had turned back to him with a weak grin. The blonde had offered his temporary teammate a brief word of gratitude before letting the Ame-nin settle into a peaceful slumber. Somehow, even knowing that Harō wouldn't hurt Fū intentionally – had no reason to, honestly – the idea that he could have (and somewhat did, judging by the moan) didn't sit well with the blonde. When the Nanabi Jinchūriki had awoken some hours later, she had graced Naruto with a tentative smile that had both soothed his mind and sent him off in search of something for all of them to eat.

The fact that he was worried about such trivialities related to Fū – especially when he knew that she could take of herself – made this vein of thinking even more frustrating to consider and not fully comprehend.

His roundabout musings were cut short when Kakuzu stopped abruptly and turned to face his two disciples. They were standing on the edge of the forest, a landscape of steep mesas and sparsely foliaged flatland paving the way ahead. Naruto quickly disentangled his hand from Fū's, settling his face into a picture of annoyance. "_Now_ what?"

If Kakuzu had noticed the physical contact between the two Jinchūriki, he said nothing of it. "Here is where you will begin to lead."

"…Eh?"

"Lead where?" Fū asked. Kakuzu threw the folder Pein had given him at the green-haired girl, who snatched it out of the air. Pink eyes skimmed the contents before she passed the file to Naruto.

He flipped through the first couple of pages, analyzing all the details he could from the photos within. The man depicted looked short for an adult, with slicked back silver hair and an ungainly large triple-bladed scythe slung across his back. Naruto briefly wondered why someone would use such a ridiculous weapon, let alone how he carried it around while shirtless with no harness, but decided not to ask. There were several large coils of thick cable wrapped around spools attached to the man's pants – which perhaps explained how he lugged the scythe around – and what looked to be some sort of necklace hung low on his chest, dangling below his _hitae-ate_. "Lead to _whom_," Kakuzu corrected smoothly, jarring the blonde from his scrutiny.

"His name's Hidan," Naruto noted, perusing through some of the handwritten notes.

Kakuzu nodded. "Yes. It is our goal to find him. He is to become…" here, Kakuzu scowled in distaste, as if he had smelled something particularly malodorous, "my _partner_."

Naruto hid a snort of amusement with a choked cough, exchanging wry glances with Fū. They'd been "partners" with Kakuzu for years, and the mercenary barely seemed to be able to tolerate them. How was _this_ man supposed to manage, even if he was an S-class nukenin? "So why are _we_ looking for him? Seems like something you should be doing," observed the blonde. Fū slipped the folder from his grasp, scanning the information with renewed curiosity.

The tall shinobi shot Naruto an irritated look. "_You_ are doing this to gain experience in tracking, a skill highly important to a bounty hunter. One which you are lacking in," he threw in snidely.

"And who's to blame for that, I wonder," Naruto remarked quietly to Fū. A moment later, his head was against the ground in a mock bow of deference, Kakuzu's hand gripping his shirt collar.

"I am old, not deaf, brat," growled the former Taki-nin. He released his pupil, allowing the boy to stand up and rub the dirt off his forehead, muttering quiet obscenities. Kakuzu smirked behind his mask. "This," he proclaimed suddenly, "is your final test.

"Both of you are capable shinobi hardened by experience and tutoring, albeit prone to lapses in judgment and competence. You have been trained to be apathetic killers, desensitized to the pain and death of others. Though you are young, you have potential." He paused to look into the distance of the landscape. Naruto would have thought he was getting emotional, if the idea wasn't so ludicrous. Kakuzu turned back, eyes intense. "Do not squander your gifts. In the real world, there will be no one to watch your backs. To protect you. You will be forced to make your own way, survive on the fruits of your labors. After this, there will be no more guidance."

There was silence amongst the trio as the two Jinchūriki allowed their mentor's words to wash over them. What Kakuzu had said wasn't exactly new, but it seemed very profound despite that. It almost sounded like he was warning them of what was to come, that they needed to grow up and survive, but to also exercise caution. They were the parting words of a teacher to his students, because after this…

Kakuzu belonged to Akatsuki.

Naruto lifted his head to meet Kakuzu's hard gaze. "They know, don't they. About me?"

"Yes."

There was another long moment of silence, Naruto lost in thought and Kakuzu waiting for some other query or outburst. Fū was the one to break it. "This says that Hidan originated from Yugakure," she pointed out, referencing the folder in her hands. "I've never heard of it before."

Kakuzu snorted in disdain, though the Jinchūriki felt that it wasn't aimed at her. "That is to be expected. The Hidden Hot Springs Village is a minor one, even among the other minor Hidden Villages such as Grass and Rain. They disbanded their ninja program in recent years. Apparently _he_ was quite unhappy about it," he stated, nodding towards the file. "Not surprising. Shinobi do not take kindly to being snubbed by their village." No one pointed out that Kakuzu was a prime example of that particular ideology.

"Went on a rampage, killed his neighbors, left the village," Fū summarized. "That was less than two years ago, but I guess we should check it out, see if there're any clues to his whereabouts. These notes say that every time Akatsuki made contact, they were close to Yugakure."

"Deft analysis," Kakuzu granted. He spread an arm before him, indicating the vast expanse. "Welcome to the Hot Water Country, home to Yugakure, the Village Hidden in Hot Springs," he continued drily.

"Let's go then," prompted Naruto, striding past the other two. He paused a handful of paces ahead of Kakuzu's position and looked behind him, a sheepish grin in place. "Uh, where exactly is this village?"

Kakuzu resisted the urge to face-palm, instead moving past Naruto with a sweep of his cloak. "This way. Once we reach the village, you two _will_ take over. There will be no more handholding." Neither Jinchūriki asked for clarification on whether he was referring to their previous physical contact or him leading them through their quest, though Naruto had to bite his tongue to not make a snarky comment about how Kakuzu had _never_ used handholding as a teaching tool.

His piece said, Kakuzu took off, the two Jinchūriki following close behind. The journey was quiet for a long while, everyone lost in their own thoughts. After a couple hours, Naruto decided to act on his thoughts. "Hey, Kakuzu…what, um…" he scratched his head nervously, "what do you know about Akatsuki?" When the mercenary didn't reply, he continued, "You know, like, who are the members and what are they capable of? I figure we should know what we're up against when…" he trailed off uncomfortably.

Kakuzu didn't say anything for a time. Naruto almost lost hope in trying to get any inside information when his teacher spoke up. "There are supposedly only ten official members of Akatsuki at any one point. You are well-acquainted with several of them." He reached into one sleeve of his long cloak, pulling out the thick Bingo Book Naruto was accustomed to seeing his mentor peruse. Where he kept it, Naruto could only guess; probably safeguarded within his body by the black threads. The mercenary flipped through the pages, then stretched his arm behind him with _**Jiongu**_ so that Naruto and Fū could view the entry. "Hoshigaki Kisame," he intoned, more for Fū's benefit than Naruto's, "a member of the Mist's Seven Shinobi Swordsmen, extraordinarily proficient in kenjutsu and _**Suiton**_ ninjutsu. It is said that he killed his former master, Suikazan Fuguki, part of the strongest generation of the Seven Swordsmen, to earn his rank among them."

Fū's eyes roved over the picture of Kisame depicted in the book. "Creepy-looking," she commented. Kakuzu grunted noncommittally, unwilling to offer an opinion on the aesthetics of another given his own appearance.

"He's _strong_," Naruto added. "Most of his techniques seem to revolve around sharks, and he likes using large volumes of water to overwhelm the opponent." The blonde shuddered in remembrance of his own spars against the blue-skinned individual. "I'm sure I only saw part of what he was capable of."

"Most likely," agreed Kakuzu, retracting his hand and flipping pages again. When he showed the book this time, the picture on the page was of a black-haired, crimson-eyed individual with prominent facial lines under his eyes. "From Naruto's stint with Kisame, we know that this is his partner…Uchiha Itachi. Graduated the Ninja Academy at age 7, Chūnin at age 10, ANBU Captain at age 13; possesses the Sharingan, capable of copying all jutsu it views. Killed his entire clan a short time after that, an impressive feat for one so young," he admitted. "It can be presumed that he is extremely talented in genjutsu and _**Katon **_ninjutsu, though his abilities are probably far more varied and cannot be accurately summarized so succinctly."

"I think he's stronger than Kisame is," Naruto stated slowly. "Kisame seemed to take instructions from Itachi."

"This would not surprise me," Kakuzu acknowledged. "Separately, both are powerful shinobi. Together…they are beyond dangerous." Unspoken went the words, 'you should avoid them at all costs'. _Fwip-fwip-fwip_ went the pages again. This time, the image the Jinchūriki were presented with was of a child Naruto guessed to be their age, blonde hair in a high ponytail with a long fringe covering one eye. "Deidara, prodigy of Iwagakure's Happa clan and the youngest member of the Explosion Corps in decades. The Happa clan is known for its _kekkei genkai_, _**Bakuton**_, the Explosion Release chakra nature. It is highly destructive," he deadpanned.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Gee, _really?_ I wouldn't have guessed."

The older shinobi disregarded his pupil's sarcasm. "Deidara was taught by the Sandaime Tsuchikage, and is quite competent with _**Doton**_ ninjutsu. It is rumored that he stole a kinjutsu from Iwagakure – prompting his defection – which allows him to infuse his explosive chakra into clay creations. Judging by the size of the bird he arrived on, these rumors have merit. After he left the village, he became a terrorist bomber for hire, though his activities lessened in frequency a couple of years ago. I can only assume that he was recruited to Akatsuki around that time."

"You seem to know a lot about him," Fū commented.

Kakuzu grunted. "He piqued my interest some years ago. Unfortunately, I was rather preoccupied with keeping tabs on the brat."

"Oi!" protested Naruto. "Whaddya mean 'keeping tabs'? You went off gallivanting around the world and left me alone to –"

"Did you ever wonder," Kakuzu interjected icily, "how you went so long without _ever_ being discovered by _any_ shinobi? Did your feeble mind ever consider how we stayed in one location, under the noses of the foolish Konoha-nin you escaped from, without _ever_ running into a single one of them?"

"I…I…" Fū shot him a curious glance when he couldn't formulate a cohesive response. The blonde swallowed, thinking over this new information. It was true that while living in Onanji, Naruto had never run across any other shinobi, despite the fact that, with the hindsight that he was a Jinchūriki, they would certainly be looking for him. And Kakuzu, while neglectful with his training, had also never put him in a dangerous situation without considering him ready to handle it. Plus, the mercenary had been gone an awful lot during his younger years. Naruto had originally written it off as bounty hunting expeditions, but… _Could he have…?_ "Did…did you…were you _protecting_ me?"

The slow turning of pages was his only answer. Naruto resisted the urge to rip the book from his teacher's hands and demand an answer. That had 'bad idea' written all over it.

Another short interlude of quiet confirmed that Kakuzu would never actually admit to looking after or caring for the blonde. Lost in the circular debate of whether the older shinobi was bluffing or not, Naruto was practically slapped in the face by the Bingo Book. He recovered in time to hear Kakuzu begin talking. "Although unconfirmed, I believe that this is Deidara's partner: Akasuna no Sasori, the infamous Scorpion of the Red Sand."

Unruly red hair framed a face with oddly pale skin for someone who grew up in the desert. Laconic brown eyes stared out of the page, appearing completely disenchanted. "He looks so young," Fū wondered. "I mean, I know that we're young for nukenin, and Deidara's only a teenager, but still…"

"Hn. Well, he should. This picture is almost 20 years old." Both Jinchūriki stared at the back of the former Taki-nin's head. If Kakuzu noticed, he let it go. "Sasori defected from the Hidden Sand a little more than 17 years ago, in the middle of the Third Great Shinobi World War. He was hailed as a genius puppeteer, the greatest master of _**Kugutsu no Jutsu**_ since its creator, Chikamatsu Monzaemon. However, after he became a missing-nin, Sasori became untraceable. His physical characteristics, abilities, strength, jutsu arsenal…they are all unknowns. While Akatsuki's Sasori shares none of the traits depicted here, the real Sasori is a puppeteer –"

"Meaning that the body he's using could be a puppet," Naruto finished.

"It is likely." The Bingo Book snapped shut with a resounding _clap_. "Zetsu, Tobi, Konan…none of them are listed as nukenin from any village. Based on observation, Zetsu has the ability to phase through and merge with solid matter, though I am unsure of his limitations. Tobi can disappear into thin air, and Konan has some sort of control over paper. The Leader, Pein – an alias, I am sure – is also an unknown, though the strange pattern of his eyes would seem to imply some sort of dōjutsu, albeit one I am not knowledgeable of."

"Well," Naruto stated after allowing the information to sink in, "that's more than we knew before. Now we have a bit more a fighting chance."

"That was rather gratuitous of you, Kakuzu," Fū pointed out. "I don't suppose you plan on helping us –"

"Whatever scheme you have planned will have to be executed by your own hand," Kakuzu interjected. "Information is an open source for those who know where to look. I merely provided you with data any good bounty hunter should know."

Fū opened her mouth to say something else, but a restraining hand on her shoulder stopped her. The green-haired girl looked to her left. Naruto shook his head, his hand returning to idle by his side. He recognized the note of finality in his teacher's tone. Kakuzu was not going to give out any more information than what he had already offered. Truthfully, it was a boon they had gotten that much from the former Taki-nin.

When dusk fell upon them, the trio made camp at a location Kakuzu estimated to be a couple of hours away from Yugakure. Lacking any camping equipment, Fū erected simple earthen constructs for each of the renegades to take shelter in. Kakuzu absentmindedly lit a small fire and retired shortly thereafter. The two Jinchūriki sat across from each other on sturdy stone seats Fū created. For a time, the only sounds were the crackling of the fire between them and the calls of the nocturnal animals. Naruto tapped a finger against his cheek rhythmically, chin resting in the palm of his hand, elbow propped on his knee. "Prodigies," he murmured at last. "Prodigies and masters and geniuses."

Fū nodded sullenly. "Things don't look too good, do they?" Naruto made a noncommittal noise. "Are we gonna die?" she whispered, as if afraid someone would overhear her trepidation.

Naruto offered her a sad quirk of his lips. "Not without a fight, we're not. And," he continued, pausing to collect his thoughts, "I think we still have time." At his companion's questioning head tilt, he elaborated, "Think about it. They had us right where they wanted us, outnumbered, outclassed, and tired. But instead of taking us then, we were allowed to leave with Kakuzu. What does that tell you?"

The Nanabi Jinchūriki thought about it for a moment. "They either want to make use of us," she replied slowly, "or…they can't take the Bijū from us yet." Naruto nodded. "Which do you think it is?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. We don't know enough about their operations or their plans to make an accurate prediction. For now, we play by their rules. We find out exactly what each of the members can do, get stronger, and stay on their good side. If we get _really_ lucky, we won't have to fight for our lives."

Silence reigned after that, the two Bijū containers allowing Naruto's last statement to echo in their minds. When the fire died out some time later, the two young ninja went to their respective shelters with quiet bids of 'Good night'.

Naruto woke up earliest the next morning, moving on a mixture of restlessness and nervous energy. Hungry, and looking for something to do, he scoured the vicinity for something edible, coming up with a couple groundhogs. Kakuzu was awake when he returned, and the older ninja relit the fire from the previous night without a word between them.

_Today we reach Yugakure,_ Naruto thought between bites of roasted animal. At that point, Kakuzu would turn the reins over to Naruto and Fū to find Hidan, no matter where the man currently was. It was almost as if Kakuzu was passing the baton to the two of them, and the success of their future lifestyles depended on the outcome of the search for Akatsuki's newest member. Blue eyes narrowed with steely resolve. _I won't let you down. _Fū woke shortly thereafter, and after eating the remaining meat, she demolished the earthen shelters and the trio took off again.

They arrived at the entrance to Yugakure after a couple of hours. As they stepped through the main entrance, Kakuzu scoffed, "Not even a guard. Pathetic."

Naruto and Fū exchanged looks, the former rolling his eyes. "What a shock," Naruto muttered. "Kakuzu holds disdain for something." Fū let out a short giggle, prompting a small grin from the blonde.

"Make yourself useful, brat," interrupted Kakuzu, "and tell me where our target is. Otherwise this poor excuse for a Hidden Village will not be the only thing I regard with disdain."

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto dismissed, walking ahead of his teacher with Fū slightly behind. "Like I'm not already on _that_ list."

"Perhaps we should do something productive," Fū suggested. She walked up to the nearest villager – an elderly woman – and asked politely, "Excuse me, obaa-chan, I was wondering what you knew about a man named Hidan?"

The woman's face immediately crumpled into a terrified expression. "Ooh," she moaned, "he's a terrible man! Coming here and slaughtering our citizens, with no reason other than the fact that he likes it. He comes by every couple of months to destroy another section of our beautiful village, ranting and raving about some person. Josheen, I think? We've tried hiring shinobi to protect us, but none of them have ever returned to the village. And just last week, my daughter-in-law was…was…" The woman burst into tears, overcome by sorrow. Fū patted her back gently, if a bit awkwardly.

"We, uh, offer our condolences," Naruto tried, fumbling over the awkwardness of being kind to a stranger, "but could you perhaps tell us where the incident last week took place?"

Sniffling, the old woman pointed down the road, further into Yugakure. "It's not too far down the road from here. Construction's already being done on it, you can't miss it." Naruto offered her a slight incline of his head before motioning to Fū to follow the instructions. As the green-haired girl withdrew her hand and began to tread after the blonde, the elderly woman looked up and asked, "Who are you?"

Fū offered her a tentative smile. "We're here to…rectify your village's crisis. Thank you for your help."

"Clearly neither of you has issue with human contact," Kakuzu deadpanned once they were out of earshot. "The manner with which you interacted with that woman was nothing short of embarrassing."

Naruto shrugged his teacher's sarcasm off. As Jinchūriki, both he and Fū had not been privy to the kinder side of humanity, and thus had none to few experiences with personal interaction. Living with Kakuzu's influence for so long had nullified whatever need there was to actually try and be polite; the bounty hunter was nothing if not blunt. Almost disappointed with his student's lack of a reaction, Kakuzu goaded, "Subtlety is an important aspect of the hunt."

"Yeah, 'cause a six-foot man covered head to toe and wearing a black cloak with red clouds is the _definition_ of subtlety," retorted the blonde. Kakuzu smirked behind his mask, glad to see his student's vim and peppiness intact. Naruto would make a fine legacy someday.

Assuming he survived whatever Akatsuki had planned for him, of course.

The sound of a deep-voiced man yelling caused Naruto and Fū to run ahead, banking right at the next path. Kakuzu reached the intersection at a more sedate pace, opting to remain behind and study his students' methods. Analytical green eyes took in every detail of the surrounding area.

Huge stacks of lumber were piled everywhere, in close proximity to a series of buildings which were all in various states of disrepair. Villagers donned in hard hats milled about the area, carrying wood, tools, bricks, and a variety of other infrastructure materials from one location to another. _Ants,_ Kakuzu thought with scorn. _All of them scurrying around like tiny insects. Pathetic._ Some of the buildings held scorch marks, the residue from some explosion or _**Katon**_ ninjutsu, he deduced. Rust-colored splotches along the walls and on the ground provided evidence as to a large amount of bloodshed. _Hmm…_

Naruto and Fū came jogging back shortly thereafter. "The foreman confirmed what we already knew about Hidan," Fū stated. "He was a loyal ninja of Yugakure until the village disbanded its program and became a tourist destination."

"Then he went bat-shit crazy," Naruto jumped in. "Slaughtered his neighbors and left the village. Apparently he's been returning every so often since he left. Kills some people, razes some buildings…he likes to cause destruction. But his visits are sporadic; they range anywhere from three weeks to three months."

"Trying to prove a point," Kakuzu muttered, "or acts of retribution? Hmm…how curious. Anything else?"

"Bloodstains," Fū replied, "all over the place. We can only assume Hidan's the cause."

"There's a trail that goes out from behind that building and leads deeper into the Hot Water Country," Naruto gestured. "Just judging by the size of some of the bloodstains, I would guess that he's wounded. Hard to tell exactly how old they are, but Hidan doesn't exactly strike me as the type to care about being subtle enough to cover his trail."

"Lacking subtlety and brains," Kakuzu mulled. "Sounds like an older, more dangerous version of you." At Naruto's affronted glare, the mercenary smirked to himself, then continued musing, "Though the fact that he is injured is…intriguing, considering that there are no Yugakure shinobi in existence anymore, let alone ones who could harm an S-class nukenin."

"Yeah, well, now what?" griped Naruto.

"That should be obvious."

"We follow the trail," Fū supplied.

Kakuzu nodded. "Clearly the brains of the pair," he muttered, drawing another scowl from his blonde protégé. "Yes, as any good bounty hunter would, we follow the trail. Now,_ lead_." Growling obscenities under his breath, Naruto stalked off in the direction of the construction, leaving Fū and Kakuzu to follow him. Unable to resist a parting shot, Kakuzu added, "Not that a _good_ bounty hunter would _ask_ for information, anyway…ninja procure their knowledge by merit of their stealth and espionage abilities."

The blonde's ravings about sadistic, temperamental, child-hating bastards could be heard clearly as the trio trekked out of the village.

-l-l-l-

A month and a half in the wilderness with only Kakuzu and Fū for company was a _long_ time. Granted, Naruto had spent longer periods of time with only Kakuzu or Kisame (and Itachi) for company, but after having to be around people for the Chūnin Exams, the isolation of the outdoors was a strange contrast. He had never really considered the difference between living with and without the assets of the city life.

Toilets, for instance.

The good news, he supposed, was that Fū was around. Without her, and with Kakuzu's reawakened sadism, Naruto was sure he would've gone crazy trying to survive with only the older shinobi to interact with. That said, the former Taki-nin had also mellowed somewhat; at least, compared to what Naruto expected from his teacher's behavior. Aside from that fact that the blonde thought Kakuzu would've flipped his lid at the amount of time tracking Hidan had taken (and he thus far hadn't), the missing-nin had also proven to be quite helpful, even more so than during the Chūnin Exams.

During the month and a half of movement, Kakuzu had proven himself adept as a tutor, if not a snarky and sarcastic one. In between trying to retrace Hidan's movements through the Hot Water Country, Kakuzu had imparted the wisdom of some of his techniques upon the two Jinchūriki, though true to his word, he had revealed nothing of the intricacies associated with mastering _**Jiongu**_. Naruto had all but mastered _**Doton: Domu **_with Kakuzu's (snide) assistance, in addition to weaseling _**Suiton: Bakusui Sh**__**ō**__**ha**_ and _**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**_ out of the original Surging Wave. Fū had been granted a series of increasingly powerful Earth Release techniques, as well as inspiration for new Dust Release ninjutsu.

The newfound attention to the Jinchūrikis' training regimes was unusual, though not unwanted by any means. Kakuzu, in his strange, detached way, was practically parenting them, preparing the duo for life outside of his realm of influence. At least, that was the explanation Naruto preferred. It was sentimental in a way, though the blonde had no intention of voicing that opinion aloud.

It had probably also helped Kakuzu's mood that they had run into a renegade Kumo-nin who had resupplied the thread-user with a _**Raiton **_heart during their journey.

Now, six weeks after initially setting out to find Kakuzu's new partner – six weeks of grueling walking, tracking, inspecting every tree, branch, and bush for a new clue whenever the trail went cold – they had arrived at the end. They had traversed the Hot Water Country's western border (cautiously, since Fire Country was its neighbor), down to the tip of the country, and then up the eastern coast. Kakuzu had grudgingly admitted that perhaps Hidan was smarter than he had initially thought after the trio had followed two different old trails to dead ends and then been forced to double-back. Then, on the second turnabout, they had come across a freshly ravaged village which had been in perfect condition when they had passed it the first time.

Following the day-old trail had been stupidly easy, even for a rookie hunter like Naruto, whom Kakuzu had taken to describing as 'so inept at tracking that he could not find water if he fell out of a boat'.

It was at those times when Naruto wished he had a different role model.

Still, they had done it. The trio was currently standing in front of a very large rock bearing no significant features. Naruto would've likely passed it over as another formless boulder in the sea of the Hot Water Country's repetitively dull landscape if Kakuzu hadn't called a halt, claiming he sensed a chakra signature somewhere below them. "So…" Naruto began, staring at the rock blankly, "suggestions?"

"Hmph. Useless," Kakuzu intoned. "We knock." He rolled up the sleeve of his right arm, revealing the telltale darkening of the Earth Spear technique. With minimal effort, the mercenary punched the rock, breaking it into a plethora of smaller pieces and revealing a hole in the ground which the stone had been covering up, a winding series of earthen steps leading into the abyss. A back-draft of foul chakra washed over them, causing the two Jinchūriki to shudder and Kakuzu to peer into the darkness with hidden curiosity. The feel of that chakra was ancient, centuries old at least, and the ex-Waterfall shinobi was intrigued as to its source.

Naruto broke the silence that had overtaken the trio in the wake of the chakra. "So who wants to go down the dark, creepy hole first?"

"There is no need," Kakuzu informed him. "Our host is coming out to greet his guests." He leapt backwards, putting some distance between himself and the hole. Fū and Naruto scrambled to follow as an obnoxiously loud voice started to become audible.

"Who the _hell_ dares to intrude upon the entrance to Jashin-sama's temp– you again? I already told that plant fucker that I'm not interested in joining your shitty organization."

"Crass," Fū observed.

Naruto nodded in agreement, analyzing Hidan's full profile while he stood in front of them instead of from the file's pictures. Silver hair was unchanged from the photos, looking too bright against pale skin. His physique was well-defined, pointing towards a ninja more apt at taijutsu, though he seemed shorter than Naruto would have expected, especially with the size of the scythe clinging to his back. It was a dangerous-looking weapon, red with three wickedly curved blades, each of them decreasing in size and topped in a streak of silver; bandages were wrapped around the handle, which ended in the thick coil of cable Naruto recognized from the pictures, carried in spools attached to Hidan's hip. Around the man's neck was a slashed _hitae-ate_ – the symbol of three diagonal lines – and a necklace, the pendant bearing a circumscribed triangle.

Kakuzu also remained silent, though the reason was different than his pupil's. The source of the chakra was not Hidan, although there was a taint of it emanating from the silver-haired man. And while the experience gained from living for close to a century was nothing to be sneezed at, there was an inverse correlation between the relevance of information he had learned over that time and what he actually found pertinent to remember. As it was, he was busy racking his brain for the inkling of familiarity Hidan's words had triggered. _Jashin…Jashin…_ The name sounded much more familiar than when the old woman in Yugakure had blundered it, though not enough to recall anything substantial. Shaking it off as something that would come to him in time, Kakuzu stated, "Our leader asks that you reconsider. He believes that your views coincide with Akatsuki's and that you will be a great asset to the organization."

"Hell no," was the immediate response. Purple eyes narrowed in gleeful delirium. "And since you heathens can't seem to understand that, It looks like I'll have to teach you a lesson!" He grasped the handle of the scythe and brought it forward, twirling it experimentally with surprising deftness.

Behind Kakuzu, Fū tensed. The mercenary immediately hardened his skin in preparation for Hidan's assault, but Naruto stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. "Don't bother, Kakuzu," he advised, unusually serious. "I want him."

"You stupid brat," Kakuzu groused. "He is an S-class level shinobi. Your skills are nowhere near his." Naruto rushed forward to meet the charging Hidan, completely ignoring his teacher. "…Fine. Let the consequences of your foolhardiness rest on your shoulders alone." Kakuzu rubbed his forehead in a vain attempt to dispel the headache his blonde student tended to cause. "This will be…tedious."

Naruto didn't respond, though whether that was because he chose not to or he couldn't hear his mentor was up for debate. He fired a quick _**Suiton: Mizu Rappa**_ at his advancing opponent, but Hidan used his scythe as a shield to block most of the stream. Despite the slight loss in momentum, Hidan was on top of Naruto in a manner of seconds, swinging his scythe with reckless abandon. Naruto ducked the weapon and tried a sweep kick, but the silver-haired man jumped back and brought the scythe down again, laughing all the while. In an unfavorable position, Naruto was forced to activate the Earth Spear technique, batting the large weapon skyward with an earth-reinforced arm. He dropped the defensive ninjutsu and began signing for the Whirlwind Fist; the downside to using _**Doton: Domu**_ was that he couldn't use other ninjutsu while it was activated.

He was taken by surprise when Hidan yanked on the weapon's thick metal coil, sending the triple-bladed scythe plummeting down towards him. The blonde immediately cut off his offensive and dove to the side. A low hiss escaped his mouth as the longest blade made contact, tearing open his sleeve and leaving a long gash along his upper arm. "Son of a –"

"HeheheHAHAHA!" Hidan cackled, his pitch rising with unbridled glee. He reached behind him and withdrew a small black object from his waistband, which telescoped into a lengthy pike. Without flinching, he stabbed himself in the stomach, allowing his blood to spill freely. His feet moved to draw a replica of his rosary's symbol on the ground in stark red. "Prepare to have judgment passed on you! Jashin-sama, please accept this sacrifice in your great name!" Then he licked the tip of the scythe.

Hidan's skin darkened to the deepest black, leaving a pattern of white that gave him the appearance of a skeleton. Fū, in a moment of surprise and terror, latched onto the nearest thing to her: Kakuzu's arm. "Kakuzu," she whispered, attempting to keep the tremor from her voice, "w-what is he doing?"

The bounty hunter glared at her until she released him, then turned back to the (rather one-sided) fight without responding. He was on the verge of solving the mystery that was Hidan, the answer sitting on the tip of his tongue.

"Screw you!" Naruto shouted, getting to his feet. "You and your lord can suck it! _**Fūton: Kazekiri!**_" The blade of air soared across the distance between the two and broke diagonally across the laughing nukenin, cutting deep into his flesh. Naruto relished in the satisfaction of landing a blow on the S-class shinobi for only a moment before he let out a loud gasp and sank to his knees. Blood began to soak into his shirt from a cut on his chest identical to the one Hidan had just received. "W-what?" he gasped as _**Jiongu**_ began stitching closed the wound.

"Gehahaha!" shrieked Hidan, purple eyes bloodshot, pupils dilated with madness. "You've been cursed, and Jashin-sama has deemed you unworthy! Prepare to die!"

The retractable pike seemed to move with startling slowness towards Hidan's heart. Fū shouted something. Naruto launched his fists in an attempt to stop Hidan. The silver-haired man's eyes widened further in anticipation.

Kakuzu drowned out all of that, focusing all of his thoughts inward. _Jashin…Jashin…a triangle within a circle…sacrifice…_ Green eyes snapped open as the pike dug through flesh and Naruto clutched his chest, gaping like a landed fish. "The God of Destruction," he muttered, the name finally striking a familiar chord.

"Kakuzu, _DO SOMETHING_!" Fū shrieked.

The mercenary paid her no mind, choosing instead to focus upon Hidan. Jashinism was an ancient religion, something he had once read about long ago from a scroll crinkled with age. Even then, Jashinists were a secretive lot, practically a cult, and the information he had obtained was minimal. Jashin was the God of Destruction, and as such, the religion's followers were expected to rain death and carnage upon all who crossed their path. Anything less was considered blasphemy. Of course, none of that explained either the curse or the ritual that Hidan seemed so very proud of, but then again, Kakuzu was half-impressed that he had remembered that much about the religion. Jashinism had been considered an extinct religion even during Kakuzu's heyday. "The stupid brat brought this upon himself," he said at last.

"The pain…is _amazing_…" Hidan practically purred. "Who's next, Jashin-sama? The masked asshole…or the little girl?"

"N-neither."

"Naruto!" Fū cried.

"D-damn," muttered the blonde, "there goes my safety net." He scratched his chest, mildly unnerved that he had just lost his _**Doton**_ heart so quickly. "Just gotta be more careful then. Let's go, round two," he directed at Hidan.

Hidan was, for the first time, absolutely speechless. He managed to find his tongue after a moment, wondering, "Another immortal who can spread Jashin-sama's will for all eternity…?"

'_Another immortal…' _Pein's words suddenly floated to Kakuzu's mind: _"You have a quality I believe he will find…tempting."_ Quick as lightning, Kakuzu's hand shot out and closed around Naruto's mouth before the blonde could say anything stupid. "The child's…immortality," – the word was still rather bitter on his tongue – "is an inheritance I granted him." He waited a moment for the meaning of his words to sink into Hidan's head. Despite the fact that Kakuzu didn't consider himself immortal, if such a trait attracted Hidan to Akatsuki and ended their farce of a mission, he would play the part of the undying.

"You serve a deity who teaches you to embrace destruction," Kakuzu continued. "Akatsuki's endgame is world domination, entire villages and countries wreathed in flames and ravaged in blood. Allying yourself with us would go a long way towards upholding your god's dogma, would it not?"

Hidan seemed to consider the taller ninja's words, the black and white pattern fading from his skin. "Alright," he agreed, "I'll join your shitty organization. Working with another immortal should be interesting."

Kakuzu allowed the reference to being immortal slide with growing ease. He retracted his hand from Naruto's mouth – and the blonde remained blissfully and surprisingly silent – and dug into the pocket of his cloak, coming out with the ring Pein had given him. Recalling the sealing positions in the cavernous hideout, he tossed it to Hidan and said, "Place that upon your left index finger."

Almost immediately after the ring was put on, Pein's commanding monotone echoed in Kakuzu's mind. _[I see you were successful in your mission]_

"The _fu_—"

"Yes," Kakuzu replied smoothly, cutting across Hidan's half-confused, half-angry curse. "Our leader," he assuaged the Jashinist.

_[Hidan, your assignment is the Nibi no Nekomata]_

"The _what?_"

_[The Two-Tailed Cat]_ Pein stated, as if that explained anything. _[Report back when you have a lead]_

"We shall."

"_Oi,_ what the fuck does a _cat_ have to do with world domination?"

Both Kakuzu and Pein opted to tune out Hidan's ranting. _[One more thing. Send the Jinchūriki to Otogakure. I wish to have words with them]_

The bounty hunter glanced at his two pupils, watching as Fū fretted over Naruto and the blonde merely waved her off with a laugh and a healthy dose of bravado. "…Understood." The presence in his mind disappeared just as suddenly as it had arrived. "Brats," he stated in a voice that brooked no argument, "come here." When they were standing in front of him, the tall shinobi continued, "You have been summoned to Otogakure to meet with Pein."

Naruto and Fū exchanged quick glances before the blonde nodded. "Alright. I guess we better go then."

There was a long moment where the trio did nothing but stare at each other, kids against adult, as if trying to decipher something in the other's posture that belied what they wouldn't say. Finally, the two Jinchūriki turned around and began to head northwest to the Sound Country. Just before they reached the tree line, Kakuzu called out, "Naruto." Both children immediately about-faced. Kakuzu stared at them both a moment longer before reaching into his cloak and withdrawing the Bingo Book. He threw it at the blonde, who caught it with both hands, and then offered the duo a slight incline of his head. Naruto turned around and smiled so Kakuzu wouldn't see. It was as close to a nod of respect as he thought he would ever get from the detached nukenin; the bequeathal of his Bingo Book to the blonde spokes volumes as it was.

With nothing left to say, the pair took off, neither they nor their temperamental teacher knowing when – or if – they would cross paths again.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Somehow I have more free time to write this semester…who knew? I still wouldn't expect overly frequent updates, but hopefully sooner than the past couple. My desire is to finish this by the end of the year…why is awhile away.

Regarding Hidan: According to the Third Databook, Hidan joins Akatsuki originally because he views Kakuzu as a pioneer in immortality. I tried to recreate that scenario here, but it was a little difficult because Hidan's character was being a bitch to write. Hopefully it turned out okay.

Also, for those potentially confused, I'd like to clarify the extent of Naruto's elemental _**Jiongu**_ ability. He can thus far control three elements (Wind, Water, and Earth), though he sucks with Earth and as of the end of this chapter, he only has his Water heart. However, because Wind is his natural affinity and he's well-versed in it, he can use a handful of Wind moves EVEN WITHOUT his heart. Right now, he's limited to the _**Reppūshō**_, _**Daitoppa**_, _**Senpūken**_, and _**Kazekiri**_, but that will change over time. In comparison, Kakuzu CAN use all of the elements without the heart, but he's best with Water, the attacks are weaker, he prefers not to, and he obviously can't create autonomous elemental thread-creatures without the heart.

In addition, I'm posting a story challenge on my profile. It'll be a Naruto-trained-by-Kisame story. If you're half-interested, check out my profile for a further description.

Anyway, drop me a review if you could and let me know what you think!


	14. Assault

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

It took a couple days of travel for Naruto and Fū to reach Otogakure. The lengthy trip could be attributed mainly to the lack of direction the two Jinchūriki had with regard to the Hidden Sound Village's precise location. As it was a newer establishment – and placed in a land that neither had previously had any reason to voyage through – it had taken the pair much longer to find the main village than it really should have.

In the end, Otogakure (or what they assumed to be the central Hidden Sound Village, given that it was really a series of secret bases scattered across the country) ended up being located in the dead center of the Sound Country. A simple archway proclaimed the entrance to Oto, and as the Jinchūriki approached it, they were halted by a pair of guards demanding to know their business. "We're here to see, uh…" Naruto paused, wondering if Pein actually went by that name inside the village, "the leader of Akatsuki?"

One of the men peered down at him suspiciously. "No strangers are permitted to see Kami-sama. State your names and affiliations, immediately."

'Kami-sama?' Naruto mouthed to Fū. She shrugged, but before either could respond, a blue-haired woman appeared in a flurry of paper. The two guards bowed hastily at her appearance, muttering, "Angel-sama," reverently.

"Follow me," Konan intoned. "Pein has been expecting you." Naruto and Fū exchanged glances, but followed the paper-user through Hidden Sound's entrance and into the village proper.

The village itself was relatively unimpressive. Plain brick buildings lined the dirt roads, housing families with no other country to go to. Children frolicked in the streets, overseen by their parents, grime and dust smudged on their faces and clothes. All fell silent as Konan swept across their paths, black cloak ruffling in the breeze. "So…" began Naruto, "Pein's a god, huh?"

"Pein is viewed as the savior of this land," Konan stated blandly. "Orochimaru was a tyrant, only interested in serving his own agenda, which focused little on helping the actual citizens of the Sound Country. Pein has no such compunctions with regards to helping those who are unable to help themselves. If there are those who choose to view his actions as those of a benevolent deity, then we shall only embrace such accolades."

_That's interesting,_ Naruto mused. Generally, individuals bent on world domination didn't focus on the issues of the little people, often dismissing them as inconsequential. Power was their only aim, in every different facet of its many types – wealth and strength, among others – and it didn't matter who they stepped on to amass it. Orochimaru was a good example of such an archetype.

But this… Helping the civilians of a nation who had, until recently, only been used to further the twisted desires of a madman? Pein's plans didn't fit the stereotypical model of a power-hungry individual set on conquering the known world. Harō's words about how Pein would end the rule of the tyrannical Hanzō in Amegakure floated to Naruto's memory. Perhaps there was a more hidden agenda behind Akatsuki's leader's goals?

If so, it certainly boded well for the plan that Naruto and Fū were hoping beyond hope would work. Otherwise their lives were about to be cut dramatically short.

Konan led the two Jinchūriki to a tall building which towered over the rest of Otogakure. It was easily several hundred feet high, and looked strangely out of place in the midst of the village's otherwise-level urban environment. "Pein is waiting for you inside," Konan informed them. Then, without another word, she separated into a storm of paper sheets.

"Here we go," Naruto sighed, pushing the door open and leading Fū into the building. It was surprisingly plain inside, with a series of stairs ringing the interior of the construct and spiraling up beyond their field of vision.

"That seems unnecessary," Fū commented, gazing at the stairs.

"Probably to discourage civilians from reaching their god," presumed the blonde, his tone carrying a tinge of sarcasm. "Very tedious though." He turned to his fellow Jinchūriki. "Wall hopping?"

"After you."

Naruto pumped chakra to his legs and leapt onto the wall. He rebounded in a back-flip and hit the opposite side of the building, Fū following close behind. The pair jumped from wall to wall, performing a variety of acrobatics until they reached the top. Standing with his back to them, overlooking Otogakure from a large opening, was the orange-haired form of Pein. He turned at the sound of his guests' feet hitting the steel of the top floor. Silence reigned as each party observed the other. "Oto looks nice," Naruto offered finally.

"It has made progress," Pein noted, "but there are still things which require improvement." He stared at the two youths for a long moment. "I must admit, I'm mildly surprised that you came here."

Naruto quirked an eyebrow in what he considered to be a fair imitation of Kakuzu. "Oh?"

"Yes. Two Jinchūriki coming willingly to the headquarters of an organization they know to be hunting them for their Bijū seems incredibly foolish." Fū tensed, and Naruto moved in front of her slightly, bringing his hands together to more easily form seals. "Such an action speaks volumes of either your stupidity or your arrogance." Pein turned around and crossed his hands behind his back, returning his gaze to the Hidden Sound Village. "However, given that Kakuzu does not seem like the type to tolerate a low intelligence quotient, and it is unlikely you actually believe yourself capable of claiming victory over an S-class shinobi, I can only deduce that neither of those assumptions is correct." He turned to face his visitors. "So why did you come here?"

"Kakuzu said you wished to speak to us," Naruto replied, mustering up more bravado than he felt. Though it was hard to tell from Pein's words, it was entirely possible he had just led himself and Fū to their deaths.

"Mm, that is true. You must have a great deal of faith in your mentor's guidance to come to a place so fraught with danger."

Naruto shot a quick glance at Fū, as if trying to corroborate what they could say about Kakuzu. "I wouldn't quite phrase it like that…"

"Kakuzu believed it was important that I speak to you before committing to action," Pein stated smoothly. "You see, it is my desire to utilize the combined power of the nine Bijū to create a monopoly on war, and eventually dominate the world through the continued blood and strife. Your sacrifice would not be in vain."

"If that's the case, don't you think you should take advantage of us before extracting the Tailed Beasts?" Pein stared at the blonde, prompting him to continue. "I know that your organization requires a large amount of funds in order to enact your plan, and you should be aware of the fact that Kakuzu raised us to be bounty hunters."

"You propose to work towards Akatsuki's goals," Pein extrapolated. "However, even assisting in our plans does not preclude you from the inevitable. Both the Kyūbi and the Nanabi are required for my intentions." One orange eyebrow rose minutely. "What sort of reciprocity do you expect to exist from this partnership?"

Naruto shrugged. "Merely to live a little longer before our supposedly inevitable sacrifice." A pause, then, "You've recently acquired a bishop and a rook," he pitched, referencing (cleverly, in his own mind) Kakuzu and Hidan, "which means that your main force is complete. Now, in your quest to capture the Bijū, we can either be your greatest opposition…" he let that thought linger, "or two of _your_ pawns. I'm no genius, but even I can see which option serves you better."

"You do offer an intriguing proposition," Pein allowed, taking a measured step forward. "But tell me," he continued, slowly raising his hand – palm facing the two Jinchūriki – and using his power over attractive forces to pull the children towards him. Naruto and Fū struggled against his power, bending their bodies to resist the intentionally diluted strength of the _**Bansh**__**ō**__** Ten'in**_, but slid forward regardless. "What exactly is stopping me from capturing you here and now?"

Naruto grunted as the force of Pein's technique increased, pulling him closer to the man. Instinctively, he activated the _**Fūton: Reppūsh**__**ō**_, but the Violent Wind Palm did nothing to halt his movement. "_Enough!_" he shouted. The tug on his body faded after a couple of seconds, and he placed a hand over his heart in an attempt to slow its violent pounding. Behind him, Fū was also breathing heavily, and Naruto spared her a look that indicated Pein's abilities were far beyond anything he had imagined. "Absolutely nothing," he deigned to reply, solemn. "Only the fact that you didn't kill us when you had the chance before we left to find Hidan made me think that you _couldn't_…or maybe didn't want to."

Pein continued to eye Naruto with an expressionless façade. "If you so desire," he said at length, "then I have no issue with utilizing your talents for Akatsuki's resources. In return for allowing you to maintain your freedom," – 'and your lives' went unspoken – "half of all proceeds you collect will go to Akatsuki."

After a moment's hesitation – 50% of all profits was a fairly hefty sum, especially considering the quality of targets he and Fū could actually kill at their current skill level – Naruto nodded. "You won't be disappointed."

"I certainly hope not."

-l-l-l-

He ran.

Really, there was no other viable option considering what he had just gone through. The somewhat ramshackle building he had taken refuge in was apparently haunted, if the hoarse voice from nowhere and randomly appearing whip-like _things_ were any indication. Such a combination had driven him to a sort of nervous breakdown, and he had quickly abandoned his shelter for the night in favor of camping outdoors.

Far, _far_ away from the spooky building.

A block of earth zoomed past his shoulder, and he turned to unleash a blast of wind at his presumed pursuer. Gazing at the path he had traversed, the light of the moon only revealed a smoky trail of dust swirling in the breeze. Paranoia's grip tightening around him even more, he dashed further into the thicket of Grass Country, using wind to boost his speed until he was panting laboriously.

So caught up in running, he was unaware of the low-hanging vine which blended perfectly into the darkness. It looped around his neck, snapping it almost effortlessly before he could even question its existence. His body crumpled to the ground.

Uzumaki Naruto jumped from the tree he had been perched in, a long thread of _**Jiongu**_ unwrapping from around his target's neck and disappearing back under his skin. Fū appeared in short order, crouching next to their victim and poking him with a finger. "That was surprisingly effective," she commented. "I can't believe this guy fell for such an obvious ruse."

Her blonde companion merely shrugged. It was rather shocking just how many nukenin were labeled as such for the most minor infractions. Naruto had expected the majority of them to be powerful shinobi with the capacity to handle themselves in most situations. This one – like several of the others he and Fū had tracked down and killed over the past several months – was merely a Chūnin whom his home village had discovered trading intelligence to foreign entities, and had escaped before he being jailed. Information was powerful, but it also lent credence to the idea that most spies were not ideally suited for combat scenarios. "We definitely got the right guy," he assured, pulling out a flyer he had nabbed on their recent trip to the Hidden Sand. "Ishikawa Hiro, formerly of Sunagakure. How he rose to Chūnin, I'll never know."

"The better question is how he escaped from Suna in the first place."

"Ever since the failed invasion of Konoha, the Hidden Sand has been struggling to recuperate from their losses. With the Kazekage and his brood dead – including the loss of the Ichibi – Suna's been so embroiled in inner turmoil that it would be simple for _any_ level of shinobi to leave the village." The blonde pulled a scroll from his pocket as Fū lifted the body, allowing him to unravel the scroll on the ground. A series of circles was inked into the parchment, several of them inscribed with names. Fū laid Hiro's body over the next empty circle, and Naruto performed a few quick hand signs before placing one palm upon the corpse. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "How's Kamegensō?" he asked, referring to the chameleon – one of Shiromari's sons – who had posed as the secluded building.

"He's fine. Disappeared as soon as the target was out of sight."

"Good." He wrapped up the scroll and placed it back into his pocket. The scripture was a remarkable example of Orochimaru's genius. Pein had given it to them before they had departed Otogakure, claiming that it was something he had found in one of the Sannin's labs and that it would be useful for their undertaking. It was a sealing scroll designed specifically to hold corpses, inscribed with extra seals to prevent decay of the contents sealed within. "We should visit an exchange point soon. I wanna see how much profit we've turned."

"Sounds good." They took to the trees, heading for one of the small tree forts they had created throughout the Elemental Nations for the purpose of having bases of operations.

Both were caught unaware by the attack.

A block of wood shot out from the trunk of the tree Fū was jumping from, catching her in the side and punting her deep into the forest. Naruto turned at her yelp, but the branch he was on wound around him and threw him violently to the ground. He landed with a muffled '_oof'_ but only managed to lift his head before wooden pillars sprouted from the earth and encaged him. "What the hell?" he muttered. "Fū!"

"Your companion is preoccupied," spoke a voice from the shadows. "You're the only one I'm interested in…Kyūbi Jinchūriki."

Naruto blanched at that. Few people should know that he was the container for the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, let alone want to target him for it. He briefly toyed with the idea that Pein had reneged on their arrangement and sent one of his flunkies after him and Fū, but then discarded it. Only Pein, Tobi and Zetsu had abilities that Naruto was unaware of, and even though manipulating trees _could_ be something the plant-like Zetsu _might_ be able to do, the voice which had spoken didn't sound like either half of the plant-man; nor did it sound like either of the other two. Besides that, if it _was_ Akatsuki, they certainly would've been interested in restraining Fū as well, which this person apparently had no intention of doing.

That meant there was a new player in the game.

_Great,_ Naruto huffed mentally, _just what I need. Someone _else_ interested in me. Like a group of S-class missing-nins wasn't enough. Kami clearly hates me._ He rapped his knuckles against one of the pillars of his prison and started in surprise. _No way… It can't be..._ "Who are you?" he demanded.

A figure stepped forward from the shadows. He wore grey chest armor over a sleeveless black bodysuit, complete with arm guards and black gloves which went past his elbows. Across his back was strapped a sword, and a white porcelain mask – with a vaguely cat-like design – with red and green markings covered his face, leaving only tufts of brown hair sticking up above the mask as his only visible physical characteristic. He was gripping his right wrist with his left hand, the right one held palm-out to Naruto with the character for 'sit' inscribed on it. "You may call me Tenzō if you so desire."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "ANBU…_Konoha_ ANBU." Tenzō said nothing. "Even so, this should be impossible. With the exception of Tsunade of the Sannin, the Senju line is extinct, and she doesn't even have the _kekkei genkai_ of the Shodai Hokage. The _**Mokuton **_Bloodline Limit shouldn't exist!" The brunette remained silent, and the Jinchūriki mentally cursed the mask the man wore. It was frustrating to never see Kakuzu's facial expressions; not being able to see this man's was even worse. "I'm right, aren't I? There's no other ability in the world that can manipulate trees and produce wood from nothing."

"You're quite astute," was all the ANBU said.

_Shit._ Naruto was well and truly screwed. If Kakuzu, who was who-knew how much stronger than him, hadn't been able to defeat the might of the Shodai Hokage's Wood Release Bloodline Limit, what chance did he have? That wasn't to say that this Tenzō fellow was as strong as Senju Hashirama – _that_ was highly doubtful – but he was still in possession of an otherwise extinct _kekkei genkai_, and was good enough to be in ANBU.

The odds really didn't look to be in his favor. Experimentally, he formed a blade of wind along his arm, the tip extending a couple inches past his fingertips – he had thus far neglected replacing his tantō, though he had recovered his _**Fūton **_and _**Suiton**_ hearts – and slashed it across one of the wooden bars.

A mere splinter was carved from the prison.

Naruto released a strangled gurgle at the lack of damage the sharpest of the elements did to the legendary _**Mokuton**_ ninjutsu. "You won't be able to free yourself from my _**Shichūrō no Jutsu**_ through conventional means," Tenzō informed him. "It's now time to return to Konoha."

"Not until I'm ready to destroy it," snarled the blonde, opting for a different method of escape. By some stroke of luck, Tenzō had neglected to create a floor of wood. If they ever met again, he would certainly not forget to do so. With a quick application of chakra, Naruto slipped underground via _**Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu**_ and began to tunnel a path away from the ANBU member. _Sucker._

"_**Doton: Doryūkatsu**_; Earth Release: Earth Flow Divide."

The ground around Naruto immediately began to quake, and then split apart to create a series of chasms and fissures. Naruto was hit by the cool night air as his hiding spot was revealed. "Holy shit," he managed, wide-eyed.

"You're resourceful, but you're not going to escape from me," Tenzō stated. "_**Mokuton: Mokusatsu Shibari no Jutsu**_." His arm transformed into a wooden block and promptly split into a series of malleable wooden tendrils which diverged to surround Naruto.

"Well, you're certainly not making it easy to do so," Naruto conceded. The wooden tendrils reminded the Jinchūriki of his own flexible kinjutsu, and he quickly called to the threads within his body. Forming the signs of the Dragon and then the Boar (more out of habit than actual necessity), he hissed, "_**Jiongu: S**__**hīrudo Fōmu**_, _**Jiongu: Sōdo Fōmu**_." Threads burst forth from stitches on both arms, the ones on his left interlacing to form a small shield over his wrist while the ones on his right wound together to create a sharp weapon which protruded a solid two feet past his hand. It was hardly a sword in a practical sense, but it worked for Naruto's intentions.

He began to fend off the animated wood with the threads, barely managing to escape their grasp. "This is really getting on my nerves," he griped. "Get 'im." More threads sprouted from the sutures on his arms and zipped towards the ANBU agent.

Several of the tendrils were blocked by their wooden counterparts, but those that weren't were immediately halted by a half-shell wood wall that formed in front of Tenzō with a series of interlocking clicks. Naruto scowled; he hadn't exactly expected that to work, and that wooden wall was probably twice as solid as the blocks Tenzō used for attacking, meaning his odds of penetrating it were unlikely. _This guy's gonna be a pain in the ass._

"_**Chirigakure no Jutsu!**_"

_Fū…_ A thick cloud of dust rose into the air, covering the wide area that encompassed Naruto and his aggressor. Several threads slithered out of the tattoo on his forearm when a gentle hand came to rest on his bicep, working their way up to twine around the new appendage. "We need to go," Fū whispered, "_now._"

Naruto let her lead him through the Hiding in Dust Technique, opting not to drop _**Jiongu**_'s Shield and Sword Forms until they were safe. "What happened to you?" he asked.

"Got attacked by a Konoha ANBU wearing a cat mask," she replied. "He could turn his limbs into wood."

"Yeah, he must be some sort of lost descendant of the First Hokage." Quickly, the blonde gave his companion a rundown of what he had gone through. "Since he was after me, you must've been fighting some sort of clone. How'd you get away?"

"Same way I got you away – the _**Chirigakure no Jutsu**_. Good thing I've practiced how to move through it, huh?" She glanced behind them. "If he's ANBU, we're not gonna be able to outrun him."

Naruto nodded. "Right." He bit his thumb and performed seals. "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_." A large chameleon – the same type as Shiromari, if a fair size smaller than the Chameleon Boss – appeared in front of them. "We need to hide, 'Gensō."

"No problem, Naruto," rumbled the reptile. He opened his mouth and allowed both Jinchūriki to climb in. When they were inside, he shut his maw and his form rippled. Seconds later, Kamegensō was disguised as a copse of trees in the middle of the forest.

Five minutes later, Tenzō passed through the area without any notion that his quarry was nearby.

-l-l-l-

"Naruto, you can't do this."

"Sure I can."

"…Alright, you _shouldn't_ do this. You know how dangerous he is. Even Kakuzu –"

"Kakuzu's not here. We haven't heard from him in six months." He took a deep breath at Fū's mildly hurt expression, trying to rein in the bite in his tone. "Sorry. I know what we were told, but don't you see that that's why I have to do this? He's my best chance at fixing this problem."

"It's not that big a problem."

Naruto gave her an 'are-you-kidding-me?' look. "That last nukenin killed me." He rubbed his chest uncomfortably at the reminder, adding 'get a _**Suiton**_ heart' to his mental to-do list. "When we were chasing Orochimaru, that stupid bitch from Sound got me, too. If it wasn't for either you or _**Jiongu**_, I'd be screwed. And now with Tenzō out there…" He let the thought hang; even though they hadn't run into the _**Mokuton**_-user since their initial encounter, the blonde knew the ANBU member wouldn't give up on finding him. "I swore to fix this problem, and I will…no matter who I have to go to. I've been putting it off long enough."

"But –"

"No," he asserted, "I'm doing this."

Fū was silent for a long moment. "Fine," she sighed.

Naruto offered his fellow Jinchūriki a wan smile. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. In the meantime," he pulled out the scroll they used to seal bodies, "here. You should keep up with our assignment while I get this whole thing worked out."

She took the proffered item and dropped it into the cylinder on her back. "You'll be careful, right?"

"Of course." Naruto grunted as Fū threw her arms around his neck and captured him in a hug. He patted her back awkwardly, unsure of what to do in such a situation. "Hey, it'll be alright," he assured her quietly, as if trying to convince himself of the same. "Take care of yourself," he added when she pulled away. "I'll meet up with you once I'm done with my training."

"I'll hold you to that." With one last look at him, Fū turned and disappeared into the trees. Naruto watched her go before making his way into the nearby cave.

-l-l-l-

Uchiha Itachi was many things. The terms 'prodigy' and 'genius' had been used by both his family and the higher-ups in the Hidden Leaf during his youth. After the massacre of his entire clan – barring his younger brother – he had acquired the titles S-class nukenin and member of Akatsuki. He was often described as being intelligent, emotionless, and dedicated. But one thing Itachi was not was easily surprised.

Which was why, when Uzumaki Naruto entered the cave he had been using as a hideout while Kisame was out performing his own mission and asked for the Uchiha's assistance with breaking genjutsu, the former Leaf shinobi was caught flat-footed.

That wasn't to say that he showed such a reaction – years of acting like he had no personality had taught him to temper any impulse to react outwardly – but the mere fact that he _was_ surprised was an impressive feat in and of itself. And he wasn't quite sure how to respond to such a request.

Itachi had plans. Or, perhaps more accurately, he _had_ had plans. Not one of which involved training a recently-turned teenage boy in the illusionary arts (even if it was how to dispel rather than cast them). But then, things hadn't quite turned out as well as the stoic man would've liked.

The destruction of his flesh and blood had certainly not been an assignment he thought he would ever receive upon joining ANBU. It wasn't something he regretted – he had had quite enough of what war he had seen in his short life, and his family's planned coup was sure to start another – but it also wasn't something he had particularly enjoyed carrying out. Even then, he had had one stipulation to the heinous act of massacring the Uchiha clan – that his little brother Sasuke would be kept safe. That, he could admit, was a somewhat selfish request on his part, given that he had planned on having the younger Uchiha kill him somewhere down the line.

Given the habit Itachi had gotten into after becoming a renegade with referring to his younger sibling as 'foolish', he was almost embarrassed at how easily his agenda had been derailed. Hindsight was always 20/20.

Such a phrase was especially ironic when the referred-to party possessed the Sharingan.

Itachi had accounted for any internal conflicts he thought would accost his brother. The Sandaime Hokage had given him his word that Sasuke would remain safe. Danzō had been threatened and blackmailed to leave Sasuke alone. The villagers' adulation of the Uchiha clan would ensure that Sasuke wanted for nothing while within Konoha's walls.

And despite all that, Uchiha Sasuke, last of the loyal Uchiha, had been killed by external forces. By a Jinchūriki no less, one of the targets Itachi's organization was hunting. Irony struck again.

Itachi wasn't entirely sure how to respond to the news. When it had been reported during the Ichibi's sealing, all heads had turned to him in expectation of a reaction. True to form, Itachi had given them nothing, but that wasn't to say he was unaffected.

All of his plans for his younger brother – for his family's retribution – were all for naught. Everything he had done thus far – massacring his family, protecting Sasuke, planning for his own death – had been derailed. The only thing that was going right was his protection of Konoha from Akatsuki; more specifically, from Madara. And now, such a goal was meaningless. Konoha had not upheld its end of the bargain and protected Sasuke; what reason did Itachi have to continue actively defending Konoha?

Itachi gazed at the blonde in front of him with an outwardly disinterested gaze. Sasuke was dead. There was nothing he could do for his beloved younger brother except hope that he was at peace. The way that Naruto had asked for training reminded Itachi of the days when Sasuke had done the same thing.

Perhaps he couldn't help his brother, but this child was different. From what he had observed during the blonde's training with Kisame, he had great potential. Naruto was also the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, which was (ironically) Itachi's target. Training him to be stronger meant that he had a greater ability to defend himself, which meant that Madara would have more difficulty getting his hands on all the Bijū. While supporting the Hidden Leaf was no longer a priority on Itachi's personal agenda, anything that inhibited his ancestor's plans – which were sure to have negative repercussions the world over – could be considered a correct course of action. _Cause and effect,_ Itachi thought.

The situation looked to be win-win.

Uchiha Itachi had failed to protect his family, failed to save Sasuke…failed to give his flesh and blood the retribution they so deserved.

He would not fail Uzumaki Naruto.

"Let us begin."

-l-l-l-

Naruto brought his hands together into the Ram seal as a gigantic ball of fire descended upon him from the sky. "_Kai!_" The conflagration vanished as his chakra interrupted Itachi's own.

"Good," stated the Uchiha, inflection its usual monotone. "The Descending Hell Technique is a good example of a destructive, if obvious, B-rank genjutsu. However, you would do well to remember that some of the more dangerous illusions are far more subtle."

The blonde nodded, trying not to let Itachi's words to go to his head. Kakuzu had never really given him blatant praise, and even though Itachi's voice never wavered from its flat delivery, Naruto took the man's simple statements as pride in his improvements.

Idly, he wondered how weird it was that he understood the subtle idiosyncrasies of emotionally-stunted individuals.

"Are you ready to continue?"

"Yeah."

"Very well. _**Nehan Sh**__**ō**__**ja no Jutsu**_." White feathers drifted across Naruto's vision, causing the blonde to start suddenly. Even as he recognized the technique as the one used during the Chūnin Exams, his limbs began to feel heavy and leaden.

He fought the drowsiness that overcame his body, telling himself that it was just the pull of the illusion, that the sluggishness wasn't real. Forcing his arms to move, Naruto brought his hands into the Ram seal. "_K-kai,_" he muttered. Nothing happened, and he forced himself to tighten his focus. "_Kai!_" Still nothing. His chakra flared wildly as he struggled to break free of the genjutsu. "_KAI!_"

The feathers disappeared, the lethargy left his body, and Naruto became aware of the fact that he was sitting on the floor. Itachi looked down on him impassively. "Not the most judicious application of chakra I've ever seen, but it will suffice," Itachi said. "Congratulations. You now have the capacity to dispel genjutsu."

"That's it?" Naruto asked, moving to stand. He could hardly believe that the past two and a half months of struggling through one illusion after another had finally reached a conclusion. His major weakness was no longer a liability.

"For the most part," affirmed the raven-haired shinobi. "That was an A-rank genjutsu. Despite your initial struggle, you managed to break it. The next step would be S-rank genjutsu and _kekkei genkai_ induced illusions, neither of which you are likely to run across."

"Except for you."

There was a pregnant silence as Naruto's words were digested by both shinobi. The fact that Itachi was designated the one to track and capture Naruto had been an understood weight between the two of them, though neither had brought up the topic until now. "Yes," Itachi granted at length, "except for me.

"I will warn you," he continued, to his companion's surprise, "that the genjutsu abilities of the Sharingan are unsurpassed. Should you find yourself in confrontation with any S-rank genjutsu users or Bloodline Limits similar to the Sharingan, I would suggest fleeing. Such ninja have ways of making you question the very fabric of your reality. Also, be aware that you broke these illusions with the knowledge that they were placed upon you; in the heat of battle, you will not be so lucky. The opponent will not allow you to have foreknowledge of the fact that you are ensnared in a genjutsu…or several."

Naruto nodded in understanding. He bowed slightly to Itachi before turning to leave the cave, but then twisted his head to glance at his temporary tutor. "Tell me," he prompted, "do you actually use any of the genjutsu you used against me?"

"No. Those are all more commonplace illusions that you might come across in your travels." There was the most miniscule upturn of his lips that Naruto thought might be Itachi smirking. "My personal collection of genjutsu has a…certain flair to it." Before the Jinchūriki could ask what that meant, the Uchiha separated into a murder of cawing crows.

The blonde watched the birds fly away. He whispered a grateful, "Thanks Itachi," to the cave, then walked out.

From the darkness of the cave's corner, Itachi watched his temporary pupil leave. Naruto had come a long way in his training, going from a highly illusion-susceptible ninja to an adept dispeller. That he had been willing to approach a known adversary to correct his most glaring weakness spoke volumes of his desire for personal growth, to prove himself.

Naruto was no substitute for the Sasuke that Itachi had grown up with and loved – the Sasuke he had forced to hate him, to come kill him, who had died – but perhaps that was okay. Itachi was now a different person from the one his brother knew, and Naruto was another person unto himself, incomparable to Sasuke. He had been given a second chance to oversee the growth of another young mind, to make up for what he couldn't be to Sasuke.

Sasuke shouldn't have died.

Naruto didn't deserve to die.

Itachi would do everything in his power to prevent that from happening.

-l-l-l-

It didn't take long for the blonde Jinchūriki to find his female counterpart. Fū had apparently taken a more relaxed approach to bounty hunting during his training period, staying in the somewhat-nearby vicinity and capturing whoever crossed her path rather than actively seeking out targets. Naruto wasn't sure Kakuzu would approve of such a methodology, but perhaps that was okay. Kakuzu had more than one screw loose, and any differences that he and Fū had contrary to their wayward mentor was probably more of a boon than a loss in the long run.

He wasn't sure how to react to this new hugging phase Fū had apparently entered, though. Physical contact was not something he was very used to. "Um…"

The green-haired girl released him and took a step back. "Sorry," she offered sheepishly. "I just… I was worried that you might not come back…"

"You should have more faith in me!" Naruto exclaimed. The extra dose of bravado wasn't necessary, but truth be told, the blonde was slightly surprised that he had left the Uchiha with all his faculties intact. Still, there was no point in worrying Fū needlessly with that tidbit of information. "So where to now?"

"I figured you should choose, since you've been cooped up for so long."

Naruto mused that offer over with a quiet hum. He was still missing his _**Suiton**_ heart, which was a bit of a hindrance in the grand scheme of things, considering how adept he was getting with the liquid element. "How about we find someone so that I can restock?"

"Sounds good. Water again?"

"Yep."

Fū began flipping through the Bingo Book. "How come you never want a _**Katon**_ or _**Raiton**_ heart? If it were me, I'd definitely want to have one of the more destructive elements."

"It's not that I don't want them," Naruto admitted – in fact, the idea of having the ability to breathe fire or control lightning had the boy all but salivating – "but our situation means that we've gotta survive with what we know. I don't really have the means or time to learn to use either of those elements right now." Even Naruto wasn't so blind as to dismiss the fact that, while Kakuzu hadn't done a very good job of training him outright, the former Taki-nin had at least set the groundwork for Naruto's nature manipulation abilities. Trying to learn the more destructive elements without any guidance seemed foolhardy and potentially dangerous, the Kyūbi's healing powers notwithstanding. And while the genjutsu lessons had been tremendously helpful, putting his faith in Itachi to teach him **_Katon_ **ninjutsu seemed like pushing his bounds. "Maybe in the future I'll be able to master them, but for now we should stick with perfecting our current bag of tricks."

His companion nodded her understanding. A devious grin worked its way onto her face; Naruto briefly entertained the idea that Kakuzu often wore the same expression underneath his mask when he was being particularly sadistic. "Wanna go to Taki and wreak some havoc?"

"Someone wants to take a chance."

Fū shrugged. "Might as well live a little, right? And they've got plenty of _**Suiton**_ hearts to take. We can consider it an early birthday gift in Kakuzu's honor."

"Really early, since his birthday will still be two months away by the time we get to Waterfall Country."

"We'll make a party of it." There was a brief pause, followed by the quiet admittance, "I miss him."

…_So do I._ "Let's go then. We've got some traveling to do."

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu now knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when he eventually died – and it was _when_, not _if_, given that Kakuzu didn't believe he was immortal – he was going to Hell.

And not for any of the obvious reasons either. It wasn't because he enjoyed inflicting pain upon others, or that he hunted and killed people for both sport and lifestyle choices. Nor was it due to his complete lack of regard for human life, going so far as to take a young child and guide him along a path to become his carbon copy, tainting his innocence in the process (though these were all good reasons).

No. Kakuzu was going to Hell because to have been paired with _Hidan_ on a permanent basis, all other karmic deities had to have abandoned him. It was as simple as that.

Pein had a rather sick sense of humor if he considered Hidan his 'ideal partner'.

During the 14 months of travel with the silver-haired man, Kakuzu had been driven to the brink of insanity and back. Multiple times. Objectively (a view Kakuzu was finding harder and harder to maintain), the Jashinist was a good complement to Kakuzu tactically. Hidan was quite obviously a masochist, which matched well with Kakuzu's sadism, though the fact that the younger male also took pleasure in his own pain somewhat dampened the joy Kakuzu took from it.

Unfortunately, that was about the extent of what Kakuzu could tolerate about the man. Hidan was annoyingly talkative, dissolving into zealous rants about Jashin, angry tirades about Akatsuki's slow progress, and heated condemnations regarding Kakuzu's obsession with money with little to no prompting. The former Taki-nin had used the man's inability to be quiet to his advantage, learning about the origins of Hidan's technique throughout their long journey, in spite of the fact that he found his partner's lengthy diatribes rather annoying.

Apparently, Hidan's abilities stemmed from a successful experiment archived in some ancient Jashinism scrolls. As long as he had a sample of his target's blood, the pain and damage from any wound Hidan was inflicted with was also experienced by his opponent. It went well with the man's masochism and made dodging attacks less of a necessity, but otherwise the practicality of it had struck Kakuzu as somewhat lacking. When, in the middle of a battle, would Hidan have time to form the Jashinist symbol on the ground with blood and then get more blood from the opponent to pull off the cursed ritual?

Kakuzu chose to pointedly ignore the fact that his partner had already pulled off the technique against his pupil.

The former Waterfall shinobi was secretly shocked at how often Hidan successfully trapped someone in his curse. Then his surprise always changed to annoyance at the length of the man's postmortem rituals. Kakuzu viewed those as nothing more than a huge waste of time.

Even worse was the Yugakure nukenin's continued touting of his immortality, as loathe as Kakuzu was to use the word. Unfortunately for his personal philosophy, as it stood, the old shinobi had no other explanation for Hidan's extraordinary resilience. Even discounting the evidence that Hidan repeatedly 'killed' himself when in the midst of his curse or rituals, Kakuzu's own attempts to permanently silence the man had proved fruitless.

They were accidents, of course (most of the time, anyway) – after all, how was he to be blamed when Hidan's eccentricities pushed him into a blind rage? – but the thread-user had tried _everything_. Burning, drowning, decapitation…he had even yanked his partner's still-beating heart from his chest. Nothing worked.

Pein was truly a twisted man. Kakuzu was tempted to take a crack at the man just to enact some form of vengeance for the hardship of putting up with Hidan, but being on Akatsuki's leader's shit-list was counterproductive to his own position, not to mention Naruto's and Fū's.

_Naruto…_ Kakuzu hadn't given his student much thought in recent months. For all he knew, both Jinchūriki were dead, and had been for a long time. Kakuzu's life for the past 14 months had been a repetitive cycle of bounty hunting, turning in corpses, and traversing the Elemental Nations looking for hints as to the whereabouts of either the Nibi or the Rokubi. Hidan's caterwauling (as Kakuzu had taken to thinking of it) – while lacking the distinctive finesse and wit of Naruto's – had nonetheless filled in some of the space the blonde would have if they were still traveling together. All told, the silver-haired man was, personality-wise, a decent stand-in for the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, if a more obnoxious one.

Though the fact that Kakuzu could use all of his powerful ninjutsu without having Hidan die or bitch about watching his aim (as Naruto would have been wont to do) was an upside. The oxymoron that was the mercenary's series of traveling companions was truly baffling.

"Oi, Kakuzu, are we there yet?"

_Speak of the Devil…_

The former Taki-nin looked up from his map. He and Hidan had been wandering the countryside of some of the lesser countries in the hope that they would come across the rogue Rokubi Jinchūriki – assuming that he was still alive – while also searching for the Nibi Jinchūriki. Sound Country (Orochimaru had apparently gotten the daimyō to rename the country, the damned egoist), Hot Water Country, and Frost Country had all been thoroughly scoured for any clues as to the Jinchūrikis' whereabouts (though Kakuzu had been forced on at least a half-dozen different occasions to stop Hidan from rampaging throughout his former home, citing the lack of any worthwhile bounties as a waste of time). The bounty hunter thought that if the Rokubi vessel was in hiding, a lesser country would have been the most logical place to look. Any Jinchūriki still alive and loyal to their village was more likely to belong to one of the Hidden Villages of the Five Great Shinobi Nations than to one of the smaller ones (Fū being the exception rather than the rule).

Which had led the pair north into Lightning Country.

Kakuzu had been somewhat reluctant to enter the major nation, knowing that remaining inconspicuous (especially with Hidan as a companion) was far less likely the closer they got to Kumogakure. He wasn't afraid – the idea was rather laughable – but information gathering required a far more subtle touch than the 'come, seek, kill, leave' stratagem that was bounty hunting. After weighing the pros and cons and deciding that traversing the Lightning Country at some point was inevitable, the pair had entered the nation's western border with Frost Country. It hadn't been long before they had come across an outpost village, which Hidan had quickly proceeded to ravage.

At the mercenary's behest, Hidan had stopped short of massacring the enter village, leaving a single Kumo Chūnin alive to interrogate. The Jashinist's curse ritual had come in handy then, with Hidan torturing the man with his masochism until the Cloud shinobi had cracked. Kakuzu had considered it a stroke of luck that the Nibi Jinchūriki was actually a Kumo-nin, with a personal sanctuary located not overly far from their location. The man's cooperation had been rewarded with a swift death.

Apparently, Hidan found the five day trek unbearably lengthy. His whining made Kakuzu actually miss the companionship of his blonde student. _…I must be getting senile, to wish for that brat's company,_ he realized dourly. He crested another of Lightning Country's innumerable mountains and looked at the landscape below, Hidan lagging behind him. "Yes, Hidan," he stated, "we have arrived."

Nestled among the feet of several tall peaks was what Kakuzu presumed to be some sort of shrine. From their distance, it was hard to make out any details, but atop the building was the rough design of a blue cat head. "We should exercise caution," Kakuzu warned. "We are unaware of how well the Jinchūriki is guarded, and it would be unwise to –"

"YA-_HOO_!"

Kakuzu could only stare as Hidan slid down the mountain, scythe dragging behind him and dislodging rocks and debris. Dust was kicked into the air as the silver-haired man descended upon the shrine. "…incur unnecessary trouble," finished the former Taki-nin needlessly. _Hidan cannot die, you have tried before with no success, he cannot die,_ he chanted mentally, trying to quell his temper.

…_I am going to kill him._

He leapt after his partner, long arms trailing behind him. As he got closer to the ground, he could already see Hidan preparing to engage a couple of Kumo-nin in battle. Kakuzu performed three quick hand signs. _**Katon: Zukkoku!**_ The Cloud shinobi immediately scattered to avoid the scorching blaze, but Hidan, with his back to Kakuzu, was quickly engulfed in flames. His angry screeching could be heard from even where Kakuzu was, causing the tall nukenin to chuckle darkly. _Whoever said revenge was a dish best served cold clearly had no affinity for __**Katon**__ ninjutsu._

By the time he reached the shrine, Hidan had already returned to swinging his scythe aimlessly, screaming expletives while doing so. Kakuzu shot his arm out at a shinobi sneaking up on the silver-haired man, grabbing him by the throat and reeling him in. "Is the Jinchūriki inside?" he intoned coldly.

"I'll tell you nothing!"

Kakuzu snapped his neck with barely a thought. "Shinobi with principles," he remarked, disdain dripping from his voice. "I applaud your dedication, but your lives are forfeit." Hidan was standing in one spot, preparing his ritual; Kakuzu rolled his eyes. "Such a waste of time. _**Katon: Hibashiri**_." Streams of fire raced along the ground, encircling the Cloud ninja and rising to prevent them from escaping.

"Kakuzu, you asshole, these heathens were going to be sacrificed to Jashin-sama!"

"I could care less. Your target is most likely inside. _**Fūton: Kamikaze**_." A massive gust of wind blew through the area, catching the flames and swirling them into a fiery vortex. The Running Fire/Divine Wind combination was a watered down version of his _**Jigoku Arashi**_, useable when Kakuzu was too lazy or felt it unnecessary to drag out the wind and fire hearts from within his body. "The sooner we capture the Jinchūriki, the sooner we can move on to other goals."

"You mean collecting money!" his partner accused. "All I want to do is spread the tenets of Jashin-sama. How long 'til this fucking plan of Akatsuki's takes effect, anyway?"

Kakuzu didn't respond. Instead, he watched the blazing whirlwind he had created die down, leaving the charbroiled corpses of the Kumo-nin visible on the ground. In all honesty, he was still unsure as to the timeframe of Akatsuki's plans, let alone what the organization's actual endgame was or how it would take place. Still, he was supposed to be the smarter, senior half of this pairing. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if Hidan figured out that his partner knew only marginally more than him. "Come," he ordered instead, moving towards the shrine's entrance, "I have other things on my agenda."

"You just wanna go on one of your godless money hunts. Without dogma, existence is meaningless!"

Kakuzu sighed silently. This was one of the repetitive, cyclic arguments he and Hidan frequently engaged in. It was mind-numbing and aggravating, nothing like the stimulating (and dare he say, amusing) banter Naruto and he exchanged. Once again he was struck with the thought that he missed his blonde disciple. Pushing that introspection to the back of his mind, he opened the shrine's sliding doors forcefully just as a set of doors opposite them did the same.

The kunoichi standing across from them possessed dirty blonde hair held in a ponytail of bandages. She wore a black and lavender top with a cloud design on the right breast, and deep blue, borderline black pants with the same cloud design on each leg. A red sash adorned her waist, and bandages were wound around her arms from bicep to wrist, ending in black fingerless gloves. "Who are you?" she demanded, posture defensive.

"This her, Kakuzu? The Nibi bitch?" The kunoichi across from them tensed at the title of the Bijū. Kakuzu's eyes narrowed at the motion.

"It would seem so," he affirmed in a bored voice. "Let us see your dogma reward you when you are not allowed to kill your target."

"Aww, c'mon Kakuzu, what'd you hafta go and say that for? Jashin-sama doesn't appreciate blasphemy. He _requires_ death and destruction. You know that tellin' me I can't do something just makes me want to cast aside our instructions and go on a fucking rampage."

"Our objectives are everything, Hidan, and they are clear. The Jinchūriki must be captured _alive_."

"I don't know who you guys are," interrupted the kunoichi, "but I swear on my name, Nii Yugito of Kumogakure, that you will die here today for your transgressions."

"Feh, she clearly doesn't know the tenets of Jashinism. The only sin I must repent for is not killing her. If she came along willingly, then –"

"Hidan, shut up and look."

Yugito was crouched on the ground, blue and black flame-like chakra spewing forth from her body. It settled into the form of a giant cat with two tails, eyes – one green, one yellow – staring at the pair over a mouth of razor-sharp teeth. "I guess that's a 'no' on the negotiations, then."

"Do you even _have_ brain cells?" Kakuzu deadpanned testily.

"HEY! I thought we were supposed to be fighting the Jinchūriki, not this thing. What gives?"

"Apparently she has the ability to transform into the Nibi." The former Waterfall shinobi stared a moment longer. "Have at it."

"Oi, you're not gonna help me?"

"The Nibi no Nekomata is your assignment. Besides, you frequently whine about my interference in your ritual. I am only heeding your desires."

"THAT'S NOT IT AND YOU KNOW IT, ASSHOLE!" The Nibi's giant flaming paw came down on Kakuzu, crushing him and shattering the wooden floor. "You deserved that, you money-grubbing bastard. Uh oh," Hidan uttered as the Two-Tails turned its attention to him and exhaled a massive fireball. He skipped back through the door and shut it behind him, setting the scythe defensively in front of him.

The shrine exploded, sending Hidan skidding a fair distance backwards, his weapon's blood-red tips scoring the ground. "Heh, I might be in some trouble here. Oi, Kakuzu! Get up! You couldn't have died that easily!"

"_**Suiton:**_ _**Bakusui Sh**__**ō**__**ha!**_" A wave of water taller than the Nibi crashed into the Bijū from the direction of the temple. Amidst the evaporating hisses of the ninjutsu against the cat's flaming chakra, the sound of the Bijū yowling in surprise could be heard. "I was going to leave the challenge of subduing the Jinchūriki in your less-than-capable hands and enjoy observing the outcome," Kakuzu intoned, irritation clear in his voice, "but this situation calls for a more refined hand than you are capable of." Although the mercenary's cloak was rumpled and possessed several rips and scorch marks courtesy of the Nibi, a quick activation of the Earth Spear technique had saved him from any real harm.

"I could take this thing," boasted Hidan, "but you're just gonna fight it 'cause it stomped all over your ass."

"…Your mindless posturing is aggravating me. Shut up before I kill you."

"Tch, like you could." Hidan ducked to avoid a swing from the Nibi's paw which would have decapitated him. "Whatever, let's just get this over with already."

"Says the one who requires assistance." Kakuzu raised a wall of water to intercept a series of flaming rat-shaped projectiles. He immediately turned the liquid into an offensive form, activating another **_Suiton: _**_**Bakusui Sh**__**ō**__**ha**_ to draw the Nibi's attention to himself. "Hurry up and make yourself useful."

Hidan finished disconnecting the lower two blades of his scythe and overlaid them upon the largest one. Now the blood-red curves were stacked from largest to smallest at the end of his weapon, creating a thicker, single blade. He twirled the scythe experimentally as large earthen walls rose up to box in the Nibi. There were very few situations where this form of his patented weapon was useful, but it would come in handy here. "Now that I'm prepared, I'll show your wrinkly ass the power Jashin-sama grants to his most faithful."

"Your god should give you powers that take less preparation time."

The Nibi broke free of its confines, sending masses of earth flying in all directions. Kakuzu, expecting something like that to happen, was ready with his arms crossed in front of his face and the Earth Spear technique active. He grunted as two flaming paws crushed him in their grasp. Hidan laughed. "Maybe you should have powers that don't suck!"

Kakuzu spat a _**Suiton: Mizu Rappa**_ into the giant cat's face, causing it to screech in anger and release him. "Maybe you should do something to prove you have some worth," he growled at his partner.

"Fine, fine, I'll save your worthless ass." The silver-haired man jumped into the air and swiped at one of the Bijū's writhing tails with his scythe.

A yowl split the air as the single blade of Hidan's weapon sliced through the appendage. In its triple-bladed form, the Jashinist's scythe was designed for drawing blood from a human opponent. However, the scythe had been crafted with a number of tricks for a handful of more unusual situations. By combining the blades into a single, stacked form, the weapon was capable of cutting through chakra as easily as it normally cut through flesh.

Indeed, a small piece of fiery, blue and black chakra flickered on the tip of the long curve. Hidan landed on the ground and brought the scythe to his mouth, swallowing the Nibi's chakra. The skeletal outline of his cursed form appeared as his skin turned pitch black. "This was too easy!" he cried gleefully. "Jashina-sama, accept this sacrifice in –"

"Hidan!" Kakuzu snapped, hands flying through seals. The Bijū had turned its attention to the Jashinist, but Kakuzu's chakra forced the water from his previous attacks to rise up in a geyser and douse the fiery feline before it could maul his partner. "You talk far too much. Quit wasting time and use your damn ritual before I leave you to fend for yourself!" The bounty hunter didn't particularly care about Hidan's well-being (especially since the man couldn't seem to die), but since the Two-Tails was his partner's assignment, Kakuzu preferred that he was the one to capture it.

Not to mention that any situation that called for Hidan to be quiet was a blessing for Kakuzu.

As Hidan withdrew his retractable pike and stabbed himself to get the blood required for his ritual, Kakuzu unbuttoned his cloak and threw it far to the side. He would need to run interference to keep his partner from becoming the Bijū's target, a position he could fulfill much easier with more adversaries for the Nibi to fight. With a thought, the _**Fūton **_and _**Raiton**_ hearts were extruded from his back and went to work firing their respective elements at the cat.

While Kakuzu kept the feline distracted, Hidan was busy forming the Jashinist symbol on the ground. Against his normal opponents, the silver-haired man would target bodily locales that would hinder movement, cause copious amounts of pain, or were immediately fatal. With chakra serving as a stand-in for blood, the cursed ritual didn't cause pain, but instead released the opponent's chakra from whatever point Hidan hit.

It was a rather useful ability against a creature made up entirely of chakra.

The ritual complete, Hidan spun his pike between his fingers and then stabbed into his thigh, avoiding the bone. In front of him, the Nibi screeched as the chakra composing its hind leg dispersed into the air temporarily, causing it to collapse. Hidan laughed maniacally as his partner took advantage of the Bijū's weakness and fired a water/lightning combination at the cat. He stabbed into the other leg as the Nibi climbed to its feet.

It took several minutes of constant self-mutilation for the Bijū's form to shrink as its chakra was siphoned away, leaving only the panting Yugito in its place. Despite her exhaustion, her nails sharpened into longs claws and she turned to stalk towards Hidan. Kakuzu Body Flickered behind her and caught her in the Water Prison Technique. Unable to face her captor, she glowered hatefully at Hidan. "I would prefer to not hold this jutsu for an extended period of time," Kakuzu stated as his wind and lightning hearts returned to his body.

"Aw, quit your bitchin', Kakuzu." Hidan plunged the pike through his stomach until it poked through his back. Inside the sphere of water, Yugito collapsed as the rest of her chakra reserves left her body.

"It is done," Kakuzu observed, releasing the ninjutsu and allowing the girl's body to hit the ground. "Now we can move on to more important – what are you doing?"

Hidan twisted his head to glare at his partner from his flat position on the ground. "I must beg for Jashin-sama's forgiveness for leaving the bitch alive. You should consider repenting for all of your godless money hunts."

Kakuzu stared at Hidan as if he had gone insane – which, for Hidan, probably wasn't too far off the truth. "…I will do no such thing." Hidan, engaged in his prayers, didn't respond. The former Taki-nin released a long-suffering sigh and sat down on a nearby rock. He would contact Pein through the rings and report their successful capture of the Nibi Jinchūriki, and then he would plan their next course of action.

Hidan released a long moan of what Kakuzu presumed to be pleasure. Maybe he should attack a temple next, to vent his frustration with religion? The Fire Temple was said to be run by a monk formerly of the Twelve Ninja Guardians. He would be worth a hefty fare, and would hopefully provide an interesting challenge in combat. Decision made, he prepared to send a mental missive to Akatsuki's leader, but then paused.

He was going to attack a temple and kill a monk. A ninja monk, but a monk nonetheless.

There was no question about it. He was definitely going to Hell.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** I'll be honest, writing Hidan and Kakuzu is fun. The balance between animosity and teamwork makes for quite the banter, don'tcha think?

The only thing of note is that most of the rest of these chapters will have time skips similar to this one. It's just to show the important encounters that Naruto (and Fū and Kakuzu, to a lesser extent) has during what would be considered canon training trip and Shippūden without dragging out months and months of bounty hunting. The next two will be relatively straightforward, though. Can you say 'Hidan-and-Kakuzu-Arc-The-Cost-of-Living' style?

Hopefully, the other characters that will influence Naruto's future – Pein, Itachi, Tenzō – remained believable. I feel like canon leaves them somewhat open to interpretation since at least Pein and Itachi have on their own (secret) goals, and thus would play by their own rules as long as it benefits/suits them.

Thanks for all the words of encouragement, and feel free to let me know what you think in a review!


	15. Loss

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

"How long does it take to get to this fucking place anyway? You'd think it wouldn't take so long to get there –"

"Hidan," Kakuzu ground out through gritted teeth, "_shut_ _up_."

"Eh, bite me, you old bastard."

"One would think you would be more grateful for this opportunity to…spread your religion…to a sect of non-believers. Why do you continue to whine?"

"They will learn of Jashin-sama's greatness through the pleasure that will be our shared pain!"

"Annoying zealot," Kakuzu muttered as Hidan continued to blather on about heathens and repentance.

"We've been walking for three weeks! Are you sure we're going the right way? Your senile mind probably forgot which way we're supposed to be go – HEY!"

Faster than Hidan could react, Kakuzu had spun around and launched a blade of wind at the silver-haired man. His left arm now lay on the ground, blood dripping from the gaping wound in his shoulder. "THAT HURT, ASSHOLE!" Kakuzu looked away and continued walking through Fire Country's woods, ignoring the plethora of epithets Hidan screamed at him. While Hidan's voice was grating to listen to even in the best of moods, the mercenary always felt a little better by venting his temper on his shorter partner.

Besides, it wasn't like the Jashinist didn't deserve whatever Kakuzu did to him.

After figuring out how to mentally contacting Pein and informing him of their successful capture of the Nibi Jinchūriki, Kakuzu had queried into their next set of instructions. He had been told that Zetsu would be along shortly to retrieve the girl, but that the sealing would have to wait until Sasori and Deidara finished investigating a lead into a sea monster in Sea Country. Kakuzu had then notified Pein of his plans regarding the high bounty at the Fire Temple, and after Zetsu had appeared to take away the Jinchūriki, he had lured Hidan on the quest with the promise of a religious massacre.

"— put this damn thing back on, and – KAKUZU, ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?"

That was assuming, of course, that Kakuzu didn't magically find a way to just kill Hidan before they got to their destination.

"Your pathetic bitching is so loud that I would not be surprised to find a group of the Mist's hunter-nin listening to you," Kakuzu retorted. "If you would just _be quiet_ for the first time in your life, I will reattach your limb."

Hidan began grumbling a string of curses directed at his partner, but Kakuzu found them easy to tune out. Getting out of Lightning Country and into Fire Country had taken a little over two weeks – during which Hidan had, quite predictably, complained virtually the _entire_ time – and traversing the forest to where the Fire Temple was located had filled the rest of the time.

Kakuzu sighed to himself. He missed the days of traveling to kill people all by himself.

After a short time, the pair walked through a break in the trees to find a winding trail leading up a mountain. The dirt path turned into a wide staircase that begged entrance to an impressive set of metal double doors, statues of demonic figures guarding the temple. Kakuzu gazed up at the structure before them, analyzing it, before turning to Hidan and holding out his hand. "Your arm," he intoned, a tinge of regret in his voice; that had been the most peaceful journey he had had with Hidan since the beginning of their partnership.

"Ha, I knew you'd see things my way!"

Kakuzu held the severed limb up to Hidan's shoulder and allowed a tendril of _**Jiongu**_ to stitch the body part back in place. "Do not get the wrong idea. I could quite easily leave you behind in this venture, but perhaps appeasing your insufferable habits will stave off the rather aggravating sound of your whining for a time," he stated pointedly.

Hidan rotated the newly reattached arm in its socket. "Tch, you just don't want to admit that you need me."

"Hardly," Kakuzu deadpanned. They walked up the stairs, Hidan boasting of his skills while Kakuzu ignored him. When the duo reached the top, Kakuzu said, "Before you start your bloodbath, remember that the head monk should remain recognizable. I want to collect the price on his head."

Hidan stared at the giant double doors. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. So how do we get in so I can begin offering my prayers to Jashin-sama? I don't think they're just gonna open these giant-ass doors."

Kakuzu's fist darkened and hardened as he activated _**Doton: Domu**_. "We create our own opening." With a single punch, the Fire Temple's renowned Sealed Iron Wall dented and broke, blasted off its hinges.

Then all Hell reigned upon the monks of the Fire Temple.

-l-l-l-

Danzō was not pleased. Considering how well his tenure as the Godaime Hokage had gone thus far, he was probably overdue for something to go wrong; that didn't mean he had to sit back and accept it though.

Things following the invasion of the Sand and Sound had fallen into place surprisingly smoothly. Danzō had tightened a noose around Sunagakure as punishment for their part in the invasion, forcing them to make reparations for any damages incurred despite their decreased economy. The discoveries of the Yondaime Kazekage's death and the Ichibi Jinchūriki's disappearance had further weakened the Hidden Sand's stability and strength. There had been some political backlash when the bodies of the Kazekage's children – Temari and Kankurō – had been found in the forest just outside Konoha's walls, but as there was no proof that the Hidden Leaf had had anything to do with them (and in fact, _had_ had no part in it), the matter had eventually passed over.

Sunagakure was now reliant upon Konohagakure for its continued survival. The Wind Daimyō's outsourcing of missions combined with the Sand's lack of leadership had placed them on the brink of civil war. While the Hidden Sand retained its title as one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, it was really more a subsidiary of the Hidden Leaf, one which Danzō kept a wary eye on. Even if Suna was weakened, such a situation only made its shinobi more desperate, and desperate people did desperate things. Danzō wouldn't put it past some of the more ambitious ones to try something against Konoha in retaliation.

Granted, given that the invasion of Konoha had been Otogakure's idea (something that had been revealed after much interrogation) – and therefore Orochimaru's – Danzō highly doubted Suna would try anything, but it was better to be prepared for the unlikely than to be caught by surprise.

Danzō's goal of uniting the world under Konoha's banner seemed one step closer to reality with Suna under his thumb.

Regarding Oto, information had been rather scarce for over a year. Orochimaru had been a nonentity for close to 15 months, ever since the invasion had ended, and given his close dealings with the Snake Sannin in the past, Danzō was used to knowing the man's movements. He was tempted to deduce that the renegade Sannin was dead, but knowledge of the man's resilience tempered the impulse to declare it definite.

Still, lack of contact with the Hidden Sound, as well as the disappearance of several of his liaisons sent there, pointed to the fact that Orochimaru was not the one running the village. That was worrisome, but Danzō was unwilling to spend the resources to conduct a raid of the place at the time.

Especially with the situation now presenting itself. "The Fire Temple has been attacked?" he affirmed.

"Yes," conceded the monk kneeling before him. "I had just returned from guard duty when two men wearing black cloaks with red clouds departed with Chiriku-sama in hand. The temple was in ruins."

_Akatsuki…_ Given that Fire Country had no Jinchūriki – Tenzō's monthly reports were less than fruitful on that front – Danzō could only assume that the criminal organization was collecting bounties, information he had gleaned from Orochimaru during his time as a member. Chiriku was a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja and was most likely worth a fair amount. "Fetch me Sarutobi Asuma," he commanded to the ANBU hidden in the room.

Fifteen minutes later found the bearded Jōnin standing in front of the Hokage, his usual cigarette absent. "You wished to see me, Hokage-sama?"

"Yes. What is the price on Chiriku of the Fire Temple's head?"

Asuma looked taken aback, but he rallied himself and replied, "30 million ryō." His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?"

Danzō stared the man down, trying to decide the benefit to telling him, if one existed. Finally, he said, "The Fire Temple was attacked by a group known as Akatsuki. Chiriku has been taken; intelligence would suggest that it is because of the price on his head." The Hokage turned his attention to the monk still kneeling on the floor. "I will send out a team to assist at the temple, as well as one to track the attackers."

The monk bowed his head. "Thank you." Then he left.

Asuma immediately leveled the Hokage with a serious look. "Hokage-sama, I would like to take my team to follow the trail this Akatsuki left."

"Your team, Sarutobi, does not have the necessary mission experience to take on this assignment," Danzō informed him. "In addition, there are Jōnin better equipped to track than you. Your request is denied."

Asuma's fist slammed down on the Hokage's desk. "If what you said is true, then we know exactly where they're headed," he stated angrily. "There's an exchange point close to the Fire Temple. If they're after high bounties, I'll be good bait; my head is worth 35 million ryō."

Danzō kept his expression carefully blank as his clever mind finalized the manipulations it had started by telling the man about his friend. Asuma was clearly emotional, which was a dangerous mindset for any shinobi. However, he was also a very talented Jōnin, not to mention the last surviving member of the former Twelve Guardian Ninja, and sadly enough, expendable if things went wrong. "You understand the danger you are putting yourself in." Asuma nodded, and Danzō continued, "Very well. You will follow Akatsuki and gather intelligence, but Team 10 will not accompany you. Do not engage unless you have a clear opportunity to incapacitate them."

"I would like to request that Nara Shikamaru accompany me on this mission as part of my team. His abilities are well-suited to analyzing a situation and collecting data based on even the minute details."

The older man considered his underling's request. Shikamaru had proven himself a genius tactician, and had frustratingly remained out of Danzō's reach for recruitment into ROOT. In tandem with Asuma, the Nara would prove to be a powerful asset in the field, and perhaps an opportunity would present itself to finally make him join ROOT. "I will allow this. However, your remaining two teammates will be my choice. They will meet you at the gates in an hour."

Asuma bowed and departed, leaving Danzō alone with his machinations. He didn't trust Asuma to not overstep the bounds of the mission parameters, but with any luck, the outcome would work to his advantage. If things went south, his two operatives would keep to the mission parameters. Sai and Shino possessed skills that would be beneficial for the assigned task of intelligence gathering. The artist's skill was a only a couple steps below Asuma's, and the Aburame had proven himself adept in field assignments, and had taken quite well to ROOT's program. Plus, since both had graduated with Shikamaru – even if Sai had been undercover – they would act as effective double agents to keep the mission on-track and to report the slightest mishap back their leader: him.

Yes, Danzō would get what he wanted from this mission, one way or the other.

-l-l-l-

"Phwah!"

Kakuzu glanced behind to find Hidan holding his nose and gagging. He shifted the corpse of the head monk that was slung lazily over his right shoulder. "Problem?"

"This place fucking reeks!"

"It _is_ a bathroom," Kakuzu informed him in a tone that implied his explanation was unnecessary. He knocked on the wall between two urinals as Hidan continued to choke on the stench in an exaggerated fashion.

"You must be too damn old to smell anything anymore. I'll wait outside while you commit your blasphemous acts."

Kakuzu watched him leave the exchange point, grateful for the brief reprieve from his partner. "Ah, Kakuzu," spoke the voice of Zangei, sounding mildly surprised. The mercenary turned his green eyes to the bounty exchange master. "This is quite a surprise. It's been some time."

"I have been preoccupied with other responsibilities."

Zangei nodded and opened the door to allow the taller man access. "Then this is a strange coincidence." The bounty exchange master stepped aside, allowing Kakuzu full scope of the dark room.

Standing by an open cabinet for holding corpses were two figures, one with spiky blonde hair, the other with short, mint green. Kakuzu smirked. "Well, well…hello brats."

The pair of Jinchūriki looked up at the sound of Kakuzu's voice. Even in the dim light of the exchange station, Kakuzu could see the widening of his blonde pupil's blue eyes. His mouth gaped like a fish's before he found himself able to exclaim, "Holy shit! Kakuzu, you're alive!"

"You sound surprised," returned the former Taki-nin drily. "Rather, I believe I should be the one reflecting such sentiment."

"And yet…you're not," Fū said.

"No."

"Same old Kakuzu," Naruto muttered. "Hey, where's Hidan? Killed him already?"

Kakuzu snorted. "If only it was so easy. No, he decided to remain outside. You should be able to sense his chakra from here if you try. His god approves of killing but not reaping the benefits of doing so." He rolled his eyes. "The stupidity of such a dogma is truly astounding."

"His chakra still has that taint of evil to it," Fū noted.

"Hm, yes," Kakuzu agreed absently. "I believe that the circumstances of his experimentation imbued him with part of the spirit of his god, which is the source of his power and that feeling. But enough about him." Green eyes narrowed at the two Jinchūriki as Kakuzu placed Chiriku's body in a drawer Zangei opened. "I must admit I am curious as to what the two of you have been up to."

Naruto shrugged as Zangei flipped through a Bingo Book to check the identity of Chiriku. "We made a deal with Pein to do some bounty hunting for him. In return, we get to stay alive."

"For now."

"For now," Naruto echoed. "So, we've been going around the world and capturing bounties to fund Akatsuki."

Kakuzu turned his gaze to the body his two disciples stood around. "Weaklings, by the look of it," he observed, scorn coloring his voice. "That man is a Chūnin from the Hidden Sand, hardly a worthwhile target."

"Maybe someone should've trained us to be able to take on people with more skill!"

"We get by with what we can," Fū interjected, placing a placating hand upon Naruto's arm. "For now, it's enough."

"Hmph. Your standards are lower than they should be."

Before Naruto could retort, Zangei stepped forward with a briefcase and said, "It's definitely Chiriku of the Fire Temple. An impressive catch, Kakuzu. Here's your payment."

Kakuzu thumbed through the money with the ease of practice. "With any luck, I will return within a shorter time span than last time," he announced, closing the briefcase. He swung the case over his shoulder and began to head for the exit. "It should not be too hard to trick Hidan into killing a handful of high-level targets. His religion might finally be useful for something."

"Kakuzu!" The bounty hunter stopped at Naruto's voice, but remained turned away. "It was good to see you again," admitted the blonde.

"…Stay alive, brats," he intoned, walking out of the exchange point.

-l-l-l-

"Stupid Kakuzu and his damn money obsession," Hidan grumbled. The silver-haired man was currently seated on the steps in front of the bounty exchange station, waiting for his partner to leave what he considered to be a stink-hole. "We never take side missions to just kill people for Jashin-sama, no! They have to be worth something! 'Money is what makes the world work'," he said, pitching his voice deeper to mimic his partner. "Bah, the fuck does he know?"

The former Yu-nin made to stand, but found himself unable to move. "Hey! What gives?"

A long blade of chakra came level with his chest. "You're going to tell me everything I want to know about Akatsuki," demanded a bearded man whose height topped Kakuzu's, "starting with where your partner is."

Hidan's pink eyes focused on the sash around the man's waist, the same sash the monk he had killed wore. "Damn," he swore, completely ignoring the man's question, "now Kakuzu's gonna want to stay to hand in your ass, too."

The chakra blade thrummed violently and extended, piercing the nukenin's skin. "'Too'? Where's Chiriku?"

"The bald monk? He was a sacrifice to Jashin-sama's great will! Just like you'll be!"

The blade doubled in length and pierced Hidan's heart. "I don't think so." Letting Hidan collapse on the stairs, the chakra faded from around the man's trench knives as he turned and walked away. "We'll wait for the second one to come out and capture him."

From his supine position, Hidan noticed a thick rope of shadow disconnect from his own, the ability to move returning to him. His hand grasped the handle of his scythe and flung it at the bearded man, a mad cackle escaping his lips. There was a shout of, "Asuma-sensei!" and the man spun around, deflecting the scythe with his trench knives. "How are you still alive?" Asuma demanded.

"Jashin-sama rewards those who are faithful to him with great gifts!" shouted Hidan, yanking on his weapon's metal coil and bringing it within his grasp once again. He moved to attack, but his periphery caught the movement of a shadow, and he dodged left to avoid it. Then a horde of insects descended upon him, and Hidan swung at them uselessly with his scythe. "Gah! Where the fuck did all these bugs come from?"

That was when Kakuzu stepped out from within the bathroom's shadows. He took in the sight of Hidan flailing around like an idiot, a strip of shadow angling towards him from the roof, and the tall form of a Konoha Jōnin before sighing. "I see your propensity for attracting trouble has struck again, Hidan."

"SHUT UP, ASSHOLE!"

"Although," Kakuzu continued, green eyes focusing on the sash around the Jōnin's waist, "it seems you lured in quite a big fish. Your religion will finally serve some usefulness. Sarutobi Asuma, one of Konoha's elite Jōnin and a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja. How fortuitous, to come across a second member so soon after delivering the first. I will enjoy cashing in your head for the 35 million it is worth."

Asuma readied his trench knives, the blue chakra of his Flying Swallow fighting style forming along the blades.

Hidan, rather predictably, thought Kakuzu, decided to interrupt the moment. "Kakuzu, this is my fight! Stay out of it, you bastard!"

The bounty hunter stared at the scene before him. _Sarutobi Asuma…an Aburame…a Nara…_ Intelligent green eyes flickered over the tree line, where he could sense a fourth, muted chakra signature. "Try not to lose your head," he acquiesced, bored. "Oh," he continued, almost as an afterthought, "and you should be aware of –"

A trio of ink beasts – vaguely lion-like in appearance, Kakuzu noticed – erupted from the foliage and assaulted Hidan while he was distracted by the insect swarm. "— the fourth shinobi," he finished idly.

"Kakuzu, you _unhelpful BASTARD!_"

The former Taki-nin paid only half a mind to his partner's screaming and flailing. It had actually been quite…gratifying…to see his two wayward pupils. Both had grown in the more than a year that they had been apart, filling out as their bodies transitioned from pre-pubescence to teenaged. They were still young, and the effects were gradual, but Kakuzu figured that given some more years, Naruto at least would strike an imposing and powerful figure similar to his father. Fū would probably always remain slight physically, but there were advantages for a kunoichi to be built as such.

Emotionally, Kakuzu couldn't decipher from their brief contact if anything had changed. Naruto still seemed brash, but given how antagonistic their relationship was, such a reaction was probably more of a reflection of Kakuzu's presence than the boy's mental state. Fū, at least, appeared to have retained a level head, not to mention a rather simplistic method for calming her fellow Jinchūriki. The nukenin wasn't sure how to feel about such a relationship between the two, if Naruto was even aware of it, but their performance seemed unaffected, so he let the thought slide for the time being. There wasn't anything he could really do about it, anyway.

Their interaction had done nothing to show Kakuzu what sort of skills the two Jinchūriki had picked up during their separation, though the fact that they were bounty hunting – no matter the skill level of their opponents – boded well for what they had learned on the job. The fact that neither was dead…well, considering how badly a vast majority of shinobi outclassed them (Jinchūriki status or not), it was definitely an impressive feat.

Perhaps just as impressive was the knowledge that Pein had listened to his suggestion, and then followed through with it and _agreed_ to it. Granted, there was sure to come a time when Naruto and Fū would be more useful as sacrifices than bounty hunters, but until then, the two Jinchūriki could hone their abilities. There was a _miniscule_ part of him that almost regretted not properly overseeing their training up until their separation; at least, not in the capacity that a normal tutor would have, anyways.

Not that he was the epitome of a normal tutor in any sense, but he certainly could've done more than he did.

The 'fend for yourself' ideology worked to a point – he was a good example – but he had also escaped his village at the age of 20, giving him plenty of time to work on his abilities in a somewhat safe environment beforehand. Naruto had not had such a luxury, given that there was no one but Kakuzu to practice with and he had tried to distance himself from the blonde's training as much as possible.

Of course, Kakuzu had also thought he had plenty of time to sadistically train-slash-guide-slash-torture the blonde into a fighting fit shinobi. Joining Akatsuki so unexpectedly had essentially foiled those ideas, resulting in Naruto's training being cut short. _It would be such a waste to put so much effort into that brat, only to have him die._ The former Taki-nin wondered if there was a way to guide the boy without being particularly obvious about it.

"Kakuzu, bring me my body!"

The former Waterfall shinobi's musings were cut short by Hidan. …_Of course_. "I told you not to lose your head."

"VERY FUNNY, ASSHOLE! Are you gonna help me or not?"

"Hm, I suppose. I think I should start charging you for my services."

Asuma, badly burnt and kneeling on the ground, groaned. "Shino, Sai, Shikamaru…keep your distance, but try to restrain the tall guy."

Kakuzu watched blankly as a swarm of insects emerged from the Aburame's coat and a pride of lions leapt from the artist's scroll. He casually exhaled a fireball at the bugs, incinerating them on contact, then commanded _**Jiongu**_'s threads to shoot out from his forearms and rend the ink creations to splotches. Jumping around the shadow streaking towards him on the ground, the S-class shinobi extended his arm to pick up his partner's head and landed next to his body. Without any effort, he lifted Hidan's form and held the man's severed head up to his neck.

Suddenly, he felt his own body stiffen, and he glanced over to find the Nara on one knee, hands together in the Rat seal and panting hard. "The fact that you think you can hold me in your current state is laughable," he commented. He flared his chakra, sending the Nara reeling and forcibly breaking the Shadow Bind Technique. One of his threads slithered out and reattached Hidan's head. "You can finish off the cash cow while I take care of the others."

"Ha ha, fine by me!"

Hidan split from his partner, hurling his scythe at Asuma and surreptitiously positioning himself in his curse symbol. Kakuzu watched his two opponents – the Nara appeared to be incapacitated by chakra exhaustion – with a bored expression. Feeling something wrap around his legs and crawling up his torso, he looked down to find ink snakes slithering around his body. He hardened his skin, boosting his strength, and flexed, splattering the reptilian constructs. "Your antics are no longer amusing." Kakuzu pushed a solid wall of air at the two boys, one collapsing into ink, the other dispersing into the Aburame's _kikaichū_. "Clever…but it will not be enough."

His arm extended into the bushes and grabbed the Aburame by the throat. As the bounty hunter reeled in his capture, his green eyes scanned the area. "Should you not rescue your associate?" he goaded blandly, waiting for the artist to show himself.

Hidan's insane laughter split the air, followed by the Nara's scream of, "_ASUMA!_"

Kakuzu looked over to find the Jōnin face down in the dirt, blood seeping into the earth. "Hn, he did something right…for once."

"Hey Kakuzu, aren't you done yet? Can I kill the rest?"

"Do what you will." He snapped the boy's neck, but he just dissolved into bugs again and swarmed Kakuzu from head to foot, trying to suck out his chakra. "Annoying gnats. _**Katon**_ –"

_[Hidan, Kakuzu, it is time]_

"Son of a bitch! We were just getting to the good part!"

"Hidan, shut up. It is imperative we follow our orders."

_[Sasori and Deidara's venture to find the Sanbi was unsuccessful. We will seal the Nibi now. Find someplace low-key to hold up for the three days it will take]_

"We will be there shortly," Kakuzu affirmed, threads creeping out from his skin to disperse the _kikaichū_. Green eyes shifted to spy Naruto and Fū exiting the bounty exchange station. "Brat, pick up the prize," he ordered. Naruto appeared startled at being addressed, let alone finding Kakuzu still in the vicinity, blue eyes taking in the scenario spread out before him. "Come Hidan, let us depart."

"Fine, but we're coming back to continue the sacrifice." Then both were gone in a _**Shunshin**_.

Naruto quickly assimilated the lay of the land. "That's Sarutobi Asuma from Konoha," he pointed out, "and I recognize those guys from the Chūnin Exams."

"Sai, Shino, come on!" shouted the boy with a pineapple-style hairdo. "We've gotta get Asuma-sensei back to Konoha!"

Naruto and Fū leapt to surround the downed Jōnin. "Oh, I'm afraid I can't let you do that," announced the blonde. "See, he's worth a fair amount to us," he continued genially, before his eyes hardened like diamonds, "and we would be remiss to let him just…escape."

A flock of ink birds erupted from the forest as a stream of bugs buzzed towards the pair. Fū spat globs of mud at the incoming insects, catching them and weighing them down. Naruto performed hand signs and expelled a volley of condensed wind chakra bursts. "_**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku**_; Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere," he stated, the spray of air bullets piercing through the ink flock.

While Sai bombarded the duo with ink creatures, Shino came to kneel beside Shikamaru. "While tragic, Asuma-taichō's death should not result in the rest of ours. Our chakra is low and these adversaries are fresh. It would not be advisable to attempt recover of the body considering our present circumstances."

Shikamaru gave Shino an angry glare. "I'm not going to just leave him here to – un!"

Sai looked at his fellow ROOT member, hand reaching for his ink brush after knocking out the Nara. He created a large ink bird and helped Shino lift Shikamaru onto it. "Danzō-sama has plans for the Nara. It is important that we bring him back alive." Shino nodded and Sai instructed the creature to take off.

Naruto and Fū watched them go. "Should we…?" Fū tried.

"Go after them? No. They're not worth anything right now." Naruto's gaze went to the body of the bearded Jōnin they had protected. A shiver went through him, an ominous feeling of unease wracking his body. Ignoring it, he looked at Fū. "Let's turn this one in and get back on the road."

-l-l-l-

Danzō sat behind his desk, hands folded on top of it. Sai, Shino, and Shikamaru knelt before him, having just finished relaying the outcome of their mission to him. The latter looked emotionally disturbed, unsurprising considering the news Danzō had just been relayed. "Konoha will mourn the loss of one of its most talented and loyal shinobi," he stated. "Sarutobi Asuma's name will be inscribed upon the Memorial Stone for his service to the village. You are all dismissed."

Sai and Shino left with respectful inclines of their heads, but Shikamaru remained behind, rising to his feet and staring with intense ferocity at Danzō. The Hokage met his expression with a flat, emotionless look. "Something you require, Nara?"

"I want to know what you plan to do about this threat," Shikamaru demanded, voice even but laced with frigid politeness. "These two Akatsuki assaulted and killed a Konoha shinobi within Fire Country's borders. You can't simply let this action slide."

"Nor do I plan to. However, I fail to see what my retaliatory plans have to do with you."

"I want to be included in them."

Danzō leveled the Chūnin with a predatory look. "Your teacher said the same thing before he left on the mission which killed him. I have long held the belief that emotions only lead to bad decisions and sloppy results. What makes you think that I'll permit you, a mere Chūnin, to allow your desire for vengeance to get you killed?"

Shikamaru placed his hands on the edge of the Hokage's desk and leaned forward so he could look the elderly man directed in his eye. "Because I know how to neutralize Hidan. You need me.

"Shino and Sai are good observers, but they can only tell you what they _saw_. But defeating an enemy requires keen analysis of their speech patterns, movements, tactics, and so on."

Danzō passed the boy over with a shrewd eye. "And you did that?"

Shikamaru said nothing.

The Hokage leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers together. Shikamaru was smart and stubborn, and far more useful to him as an ally rather than an enemy. Even if was emotionally compromised, he had a much better idea of what he would be up against than Asuma had. Not to mention that Asuma had engaged in combat when Danzō had approved it more as a last resort.

In all honesty, the elderly man had foreseen this outcome is as a possibility, even likely. The loss of Asuma was tragic, but the man was also one of Shikamaru's closest associates, not to mention his teacher. In order to bait the Nara, something truly terrible would have had to happen to make him blind to the Hokage's machinations. _This has played almost perfectly into my hand. Just one more step…_ "When you return from this mission," he began slowly, "you will become a member of my ANBU."

The Chūnin didn't even hesitate. "Fine."

Danzō allowed a crooked smirk to cross his lips for the barest of seconds. _And so the last fly comes into my web. _"Before you dissect every facet of the targets' abilities, I would like to bring someone in to hear what you have to say. Terai," he barked, and a cloaked ANBU dropped from the ceiling, "find me Inu."

Ten minutes later, an ANBU in standard uniform, silver hair defying gravity over a dog mask, appeared in the room. After the death of Uchiha Sasuke, the "promotion" of Sai to Chūnin, and Haruno Sakura's stripping of ninja status (civilians really weren't cut to become shinobi), Hatake Kakashi had rejoined ANBU and almost immediately had been granted the title of ANBU Captain. Danzō was slightly disappointed that he couldn't rope the man into joining ROOT, but having him under his thumb as the Hokage's personal soldier was good enough. "Inu, you'll be leading an assault team on the two targets Nara here is going to describe. He will also be a part of the team."

Kakashi nodded, which Shikamaru took as his cue to speak. "The shorter one is a man named Hidan. He wields a large triple-bladed scythe attached to a long metal coil, and has at least one retractable pike. His main ability seems to be some form of immortality that makes him immune to what I can only assume is all forms of physical trauma."

Danzō raised an eyebrow. "You assume?"

"He took a lethal blow to the heart and was able to talk during and recover from a decapitation, though his body retains no autonomous movement during that time. While other forms of trauma were not attempted, surviving those extremes seems to suggest that any other method would also be moot. Hidan uses his immortality and a curse ritual to link the wounds his body takes to that of an adversary whose blood he has taken. However, the ritual is limited by a symbol he draws on the ground to complete it. Removing him from the symbol nullifies the link between him and the target, provided he remains away from it."

"You said he can survive decapitation," Danzō prompted, "but your phrasing would indicate that he is incapable of recovering from such an incapacitation on his own."

"Yes. His partner is tall man he called Kakuzu. He was able to reattach Hidan's head to his body through black threads that also grant him the ability to extend his limbs to great lengths at will. In addition, he displayed an affinity for both _**Katon**_ and _**Fūton **_chakra natures, though the extent of his mastery of those elements is indeterminable based solely upon my observations."

"Akatsuki is an organization comprised of S-class criminals," Danzō revealed. "I would expect his mastery of the elements to be as complete as yours, Inu…potentially greater. You said you had a plan?" he asked, returning his attention to Shikamaru.

"From my observations, I believe I can neutralize Hidan, provided his partner is kept occupied."

"Very well. Inu, you will lead a team to find and intercept these Akatsuki members. When you find them, eliminate them."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu stood up slowly and cracked his spine. Sitting around for long periods of time didn't agree well with his advanced age, no matter how fit he was. Replacing organs was one thing; bones were an entirely different matter. Beside him, Hidan rose and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, rolling it around to stretch the muscles. "Man, sitting around for three days doing nothing _sucks_," complained the silver-haired man. "Why's that ritual take so damn long?"

The taller shinobi tossed him a flat look. "You have no room to talk, Hidan," he deadpanned. _Only five seconds to start bitching…it must be a new record…_

"Eh, fuck off, Kakuzu. If I don't offer my respect to Jashin-sama, I might become a damn atheist like you."

"There are worse fates. I believe it would be an improvement over your current personality."

"Hey, that really hurts, ya know? Besides, you – HEY, where are you going!"

"As we are within Fire Country, we might as well begin exploring it for the Rokubi Jinchūriki."

"What about those bastards at the bounty exchange station? They were ripe and prepared to become sacrifices to Jashin-sama!"

Kakuzu craned his neck to stare at Hidan. "…You really are an idiot. Why would they stay around there for three days? No, we have our assignment. If we come across any Konoha-nin, you can deal with them."

"Ha HA! I knew you'd come to see things my way. Now, if you'd give up your blasphemous habit of killing for money, you might have a chance at getting within Jashin-sama's good graces!"

As Hidan continued to ramble about his god, Kakuzu rolled his eyes. Truly, the cost for appeasing the stupid was a mighty sacrifice.

-l-l-l-

"_**Jōro Senbon!**_"

"_**Fūton: **__**Reppūshō!**_"

The Violent Wind Palm blasted away the rain of needles descending from several airborne umbrellas. Naruto spat out the wind pellets of a Vacuum Sphere, riddling the instruments with holes and making them unusable. "Anything else?" he asked, returning his gaze to the man across from him.

His opponent – a somewhat feminine looking man with forest green hair and purple eyes – scowled at him. "You think you've got me beat? Ha! I still haven't used my greatest weapon!" He reached behind his back and brought forth what looked to be the hilt of a weapon. "Behold! The –"

"_**Raijin no Ken**_," Naruto finished, bored. "The Nidaime Hokage's great Sword of the Thunder God."

"H-how do you –?"

"Know what it is?" Naruto finished, enjoying the panic his prey was experiencing. _I wonder if this is how Kakuzu feels whenever he sets his sights on a target._ "Well, I know everything about you, Rokushō Aoi. Defected from Konoha after you had your pupil steal the _**Raijin no Ken**_, then joined Amegakure and eventually became a Jōnin. Kinda pathetic, all things considered, having a Genin steal a precious artifact in your place. The rest of your past is rather mundane."

"It doesn't matter," Aoi professed. "You're still going to die here."

Naruto cocked his head to the side curiously. "Oh? That's interesting. I admit that I was a bit surprised to find you in Fire Country, but since you're here, I think this'll be a good test of my abilities against a former Konoha shinobi." He paused, eyeing the sword, then continued, "Surprisingly, Konoha is willing to pay more for the return of that sword than your body. I'm not one to really help the Hidden Leaf…but I am rather interested in money."

Aoi brought the sword to life, creating a long blade of electricity. Naruto sighed. "I guess we do this the hard way, then. _**Jiongu: **__**Sōdo Fōmu**_," he said, holding out his right hand and letting the threads twine together into a blade. He dove forward as Aoi did the same, the two swords clashing against each other. There was a brief stalemate before the lightning of Aoi's sword pierced the black threads and severed the end of Naruto's makeshift blade. The blonde leapt back and stared at the stub of his weapon. "Well, that's problematic."

"Take this!" Aoi shouted, waving his sword and creating an arc of lightning that swept towards Naruto. The blonde held up a palm and blasted away the shockwave with another Violent Wind Palm. "I'll kill you!"

"Uh huh," yawned Naruto, "so you said." He ran through a quick string of seals and then held his hands parallel at chest level, palms facing each other, leaving a small space in between them. "_**Fūton: Kaze Jōgo**_."

A strong suction built up, with the space between Naruto's hands serving as the focal point. Aoi could do nothing as his body was pulled into the vortex of the technique, the electricity from the mad swipes of his sword overpowered by wind's elemental superiority to lightning. When the Rain Jōnin was near enough, threads erupted from the sutures on Naruto's forearms and speared into the man's body, the pull of the Wind Release: Wind Funnel proving too much for Aoi to escape from. Naruto released the technique, allowing the Jōnin's body to drop to the ground.

Fū jumped down from her perch on a tree bough high above the battlefield. "That was impressive," she commended, moving to pick up the hilt of the deactivated _**Raijin no Ken**_. She examined it, running a finger over the relic. "Are we really going to return this to Konoha?" When no response was forthcoming, the Jinchūriki looked over at her companion. "Hey, are you okay?"

Naruto tried to settle the uncomfortable knot of tension thrumming throughout his body, his gaze locked into the distance. "Yeah," he responded, almost mechanically, "we need the money more than the sword, and it's too precious an antiquity for Konoha to ever use it against us." He turned an unusually serious gaze upon the Nanabi Jinchūriki, the same foreboding feeling from three days ago haunting him. "Let's seal the body and get a move on. Something's not right…"

Fū raised an eyebrow, but did as she was bade. Then they took off, silent as wraiths, destination unknown.

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu was the very definition of 'pissed off'.

He and Hidan had been…well, the closest to being ambushed that Kakuzu could recount in decades. The Nara – Kakuzu had recognized his chakra signature specifically, given that it was the easiest to sense – had led the charge, 19 ANBU agents flanking him. Dodging the boy's _**Kagemane no Jutsu**_ had been impossible with all of the other people distracting him, but by releasing his hearts to run interference and keeping the earth one for _**Doton: Domu**_, Kakuzu had been safe from any offensive.

Until hidden ANBU #20 had shoved Hatake Kakashi's trademark _**Raikiri**_ through his defense.

That had destroyed his earth heart.

Somehow – and Kakuzu honestly found he couldn't be overly surprised, given Hidan's stupidity – the Nara had separated the two Akatsuki members, leaving Kakuzu to take on 20 ANBU agents. Given how badly he had been outnumbered (five-to-one, counting his three thread-creatures), the former Taki-nin had kept up quite nicely against Konoha's vaunted elite. He found it a bit unusual that about half of them were garbed in cream cloaks and the others wore standard ANBU outfits – and that the latter ones were more defensive of their comrades than the former ones – but in a battle to the death, such trivialities hardly mattered. They all needed to die, regardless of what they wore or how they acted.

Then, a stabbing pain had exploded in his chest. Somehow, _somehow_, he had figured, Hidan had cursed _him_.

_That_ had destroyed his water heart.

After that, he had recalled all of his hearts in order to protect them. Unfortunately, his opponents had taken advantage of his thread-creatures' single-mindedness and captured one in a giant earthen construct. It had then been turned into an oven, roasting the autonomous threads to cinders.

_That_ had destroyed his wind heart.

Now, Kakuzu stood with only his lightning and fire hearts left, both settled within his body. His ultimate form was locked to him, inaccessible since he had last used it to seal Orochimaru. The bounty hunter remained motionless, glaring at the overwhelming number of Konoha-nin still before him. _Cowardly, spineless shinobi of the Leaf! To even stand a chance against me, they must amass seemingly insurmountable odds…but I will not fall here. I survived against the most feared shinobi of the ages, Senju Hashirama…these no-names will not succeed!_ "You will all rue the day you came to confront me!"

Black tendrils ruptured from his back, spreading out and forming thick tentacles twice Kakuzu's height in length. Seven of the thread-limbs surrounded him, tendrils connecting them together to create a spider's weave at his back. More threads spilled forth from his mouth, knocking off his head covering and mask, and forming an eighth limb disconnected from the rest. A bushel of tendrils converged to create a stubby sort of tail at his back. "_Die!_" he hissed, and the limbs went forth, giving the bounty hunter the appearance of a twisted octopus grappling for prey.

Five limbs dove for targets: two struck the closest two shinobi and skewered them before they could react; one ANBU dodged the third limb, and another cast a _**Kawarimi**_ to escape the fourth; the fifth used a massive tree trunk as a shield, but the threads split and caught him in a pincer attack. Unable to escape, he set his body aflame as ANBU operatives were instructed to do.

Kakuzu scowled. In his rage, he had had a slight oversight regarding the ability to restock his hearts with the ones from these shinobi. _**Jiongu**_'s long-range form sacrificed the extending abilities of his arms and other useful grappling options for brute power and destruction. It was a bit more difficult to control the kinjutsu's organ-stealing ability with such huge masses of tendrils.

The two tentacles that hadn't attacked wound around him protectively, shielding his body from an incoming burst of flames. The bull mask that housed his lightning heart appeared in the center of the web of threads, firing a _**Raiton: Gian**_ straight up. The Konoha-nin trying to attack from above was speared through the side, a clean hit through his liver; he burst into flames a moment later.

_That was the seventh…13 left._ He glanced up to find a portal of mud about to dump on him. Jumping, he recalled his limbs and, using them as wings, sailed away from his previous position. Kakuzu landed, the tentacle emerging from his mouth digging into the earth and revealing a shinobi underneath. The threads wrapped around him, burrowing underneath his skin and reaching for his heart –

The earth closed with a resounding _boom_, crushing the ninja before Kakuzu could capitalize on his capture. Green eyes glanced around, irate. Most of the remaining Konoha-nin seemed to be garbed in the cream cloaks. "You would rather sacrifice your comrade than see him fall into enemy hands. Callous…brutal…intelligent…" Three tentacles of his threads lanced back at a shinobi coming in from Kakuzu's blind spot. The ANBU was rent limb from limb, but an invisible force slammed into Kakuzu's back, shattering the bull mask. _A skilled enough __**Fūton**__-user that his attacks are undetectable…and a complete disregard for his own life. These ANBU are truly dangerous opponents…_ "But I will not be defeated here!"

Seven tentacles lashed out, seeking the remaining 11 shinobi. "I will kill you all and restock my hearts, and then your village will burn," he seethed, completely enraged. One of the tentacles angled at a stockier ninja, but the man's hands grew to large proportions and caught the threads within his grasp. Kakuzu sent a second tentacle at him, but he caught it with his other hand. The tendrils wriggled in his grip, driving into his hands and drawing blood, but the ANBU held on.

A third tentacle rushed to spear him through the stomach, but another ANBU stepped forward and spun, creating a dome of chakra Kakuzu recognized as the Hyūga's _**Kaiten**_.

Kakuzu glanced around to find more of his thread-limbs being restrained. A fourth had a loop of shadow wrapped around it, restraining it. Another was being held at bay by two ANBU shooting bursts of fire and wind in tandem, and a sixth was being boxed in by continuously thicker walls of earth. The nukenin growled, but was momentarily caught off guard by a shinobi appearing directly in front of him, hands flashing through seals. His last mass of threads – the one from his mouth – lashed out and wound around the ninja, reaching for his heart –

He disappeared, an illusion in the wind. _A distraction!_ Kakuzu realized, craning around to find the dog-masked ANBU he suspected was Hatake Kakashi a mere foot away, hand crackling with lightning. The bushel of tendrils comprising his 'tail' speared into the man.

Then, there was pain as the ANBU took on a blue sheen and discharged electricity throughout Kakuzu's entire body, _**Jiongu**_'s tendrils acting as a conduit. _A __**Raiton Kage Bunshin**__…_ Paralyzed, the bounty hunter could only watch as the real Kakashi popped up from the ground, hand alight in the Lightning Cutter. _So this is how it ends,_ he thought, _**Raikiri **_piercing his chest, _beaten by mere children._

Kakuzu felt surprisingly at peace as his body jerked, the fire heart failing him. As his awareness of what was happening around him dimmed, his green eyes scanned the area, landing on a head of blonde hair on the outskirts of the dead forest. _Perhaps…my legacy…will finish…what I have started…_

_Naruto…_

Kakuzu's body hit the ground, and he thought no more.

-l-l-l-

Naruto led Fū through Fire Country's forest at a fast clip, the leaves present on the trees thinning out significantly as they kept moving forward. He couldn't explain it, but there was an ominous pull in his heart, as if something was about to go horribly wrong. Fū had tried asking what was going on, but the blonde had ignored her, focused instead on pumping chakra to his feet to just _get there faster_.

It was only when the greenery disappeared entirely, to be replaced by the barren skeletons of trees in their decline that he began to actually feel the trouble. "Stop," he commanded, taking his own advice and halting on a bough. Fū stopped beside him, her face a mixture of concern, confusion, and patience. Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated. Simply because of their proximity to each other, he could sense a group of chakra signatures –

Blue eyes snapped open as Kakuzu's chakra flared wildly. _There!_ "I think Kakuzu's in trouble," he told the Nanabi Jinchūriki. "I'm going to help him."

"Let me come too. I can –"

"No!" he snapped, causing Fū to recoil slightly. "No," he repeated, "just…find Hidan. I can't sense him where Kakuzu is, and that worries me. Kakuzu might not like him, but he's under orders not to ditch him. Go around, avoid all the chakra signatures…Hidan should be easy to find by that evil taint his chakra has."

Fū looked ready to protest, but she closed her mouth and just nodded. Without a word, she disappeared. Naruto took off right after, his mind only on his mentor. The ominous feeling settled in his belly, making everything seem cold despite the sweat beading on his brow from racing through Fire Country.

Naruto burst into the clearing where he had sensed the plethora of chakra signatures. Kakuzu was surrounded by close to a dozen ANBU members, _**Jiongu**_'s threads compacted into eight long limbs which fanned out from his body. With his mask off and one of the thread-masses sprouting from his mouth, the blonde became aware of just how terrifying his mentor could be.

Just as he began to prepare a jutsu, an ANBU in a dog mask appeared and shoved his lightning-covered hand into Kakuzu's chest.

The Jinchūriki's eyes widened as all the threads surrounding Kakuzu shuddered violently and withdrew into the former Taki-nin's body with a series of sickening slurps. When the mercenary's body could be seen, his green eyes were wide with disbelief, the shock clear on his naked face. He pitched forward suddenly, and then he began to fall.

To Naruto, time seemed to slow down to individual microseconds as gravity took hold of his mentor's body. Could Kakuzu be…had he just…been _killed_?

"_There is no such thing as immortality," Kakuzu informed him one day when he had gotten curious about his teacher's prolonged lifespan, "merely methods to inhibit the decline of the human body into death."_

But Kakuzu _couldn't_ die. He was old, sure, but he was strong and wise in the ways of the world –

"_The most important rule you will ever learn is this: money is everything. The world revolves around money; even Hell runs on money…"_

— knew how to survive, knew the tricks of the trade for staying alive in a dangerous environment –

"_My village believed that I did not try hard enough, and punished me for failing in my objective. This blasé disrespect for all of my servitude infuriated and offended me, so I left. I stole Takigakure's most precious treasures: the kinjutsu __**Jiongu**__...and the hearts of the Village Elders, who did not appreciate my service to their precious village."_

_**APPARENTLY NOT WELL ENOUGH.**_

— had taken Naruto in when everyone else had hated and scorned him –

_"I have never done this before, but your ability to heal and withstand my attack is an intriguing one. If you would like, you can come with me, and I will teach you to properly harness this power."_

— raised him, trained him –

"_You will learn one of my most useful ninjutsu, a move which may come in handy against the Hyūga you are supposed to fight."_

— given him purpose –

"_I am going to teach you how to engage in the world's oldest profession: killing."_

_**YOU WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT HIS TUTELAGE.**_

— spurred Naruto to become greater, despite his unsympathetic, detached ways –

"_There is a _reason_ why you are the only other individual to become imbued with __**Jiongu**__."_

— endured his very existence –

"_I have tolerated your foolishness far longer than I should have, and this childish wordplay and immaturity will cease _immediately. _I expect you to act like the ninja I have trained you to be."_

_**CLEARLY HE IS ENDOWED WITH FAR MORE PATIENCE THAN YOU THOUGHT, CONSIDERING THE EFFORT HE PUT INTO SUFFERING THROUGH YOUR CONTINUED PRESENCE.**_

— and had inspired him to become a great shinobi.

"_And that," Kakuzu stated wickedly, driving the Watercutting Sword through his target's heart, "is how you overcome an elemental disadvantage." He turned to face Naruto. "Do not let the potential fear of a handicap hinder your decision to kill those who are beneath you."_

_**YOU CLEARLY STILL HAVE A WAYS TO GO.**_

Kakuzu had watched over him when he had always thought the man couldn't care less.

"_Did your feeble mind ever consider how we stayed in one location, under the noses of the foolish Konoha-nin you escaped from, without _ever _running into a single one of them?"_

_**NO ONE ELSE WOULD WANT SUCH A TASK.**_

He was honestly the closest thing Naruto had to a father…

_**AND NOW HE IS DEAD…BY THE HANDS OF THE HIDDEN LEAF, NO LESS.**_

No…

_**YES. EMBRACE YOUR ANGER.**_

How could Kakuzu die…?

"_Naruto." Kakuzu threw his Bingo Book at the blonde, who caught it with both hands, and then offered the duo a slight incline of his head._

_**HUMANS ARE WEAK CREATURES, HIGHLY SUSCEPTIBLE TO DEATH.**_

Why…?

_**KONOHA HAS NOW TAKEN EVERYTHING FROM YOU. IT IS TIME FOR YOUR VENGEANCE.**_

Vengeance…

_**KILL THEM ALL.**_

Kill…

Kakuzu's body hit the ground with a muffled _thud_. The sound seemed to echo ominously in Naruto's ears. From his throat ripped an ear-splitting howl of anguish.

"_KAKUZUUUUU!_"

The last thing Naruto was aware of before blacking out was the dark laughter of a voice inside his head as malevolent chakra violently exploded from his body.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: **MWUAHAHAHAHA!

So, despite the fact that people are sure to be calling for my blood, I've been looking forward to writing this scene for...well, a very very long time. Kind of a mean cliffhanger...I'd say something else, but that would give stuff away. Now that summer's starting, I'll hopefully be able to put out the next chapter pretty quickly. This one only took a little over a week to write.

I'm also having way too much fun writing Hidan. Oh, and if you weren't sure, the cream-cloaked ANBU are ROOT operatives. Hence the distinction. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter, and feel free to leave me your death threats by reviewing this one!


	16. Understanding

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Naruto._

Fū bounded through the forest, only half a mind on the increasing density in tree foliage. Per Naruto's instruction, she had avoided the mass of chakra signatures that marked Kakuzu's position and swung a wide arc through the sea of barren trees. She had finally gotten a faint lock on Hidan's chakra signature by the time greenery had started to speckle the forest again when a burst of foul chakra rippled across her skin, causing her to shiver. The Jinchūriki stopped abruptly and whirled around, eyes wide. "What…was that?" she gasped.

Her only response was the Nanabi's grating laughter in her mind.

Shaking her head, she returned to her path, trying to focus on the assignment Naruto had tasked her with. She took a deep breath to calm herself, thoughts unwillingly roving back to her fellow Jinchūriki and their wayward mentor. It was hard, she realized, to not worry about either of them, even despite the confidence she had in their abilities.

Kakuzu was the epitome of a veteran shinobi, having seen almost a century of how the world worked, and gained an equivalent amount of experience. He was well-versed in the existence of most, if not all, major clans and _kekkei genkai_, and his mastery of the five main elemental affinities made him a force to be reckoned with. That wasn't even including the power he was granted by _**Jiongu**_ or the extra lives he possessed.

On the other side of the coin, Naruto easily had the most potential of any ninja in their generation. He possessed the same capacity for nature chakra manipulation and resilience that Kakuzu had because of the same kinjutsu running through their bodies. Even beyond that, he was the container of Kyūbi no Yōko, the strongest of the Bijū. His resolve to continue forward in the path Kakuzu had set him on and his growing desire to prove himself capable of following his mentor were impressive and admirable personality traits.

Both were the only people who had ever really accepted Fū. If something ever happened to either of them…well, she really wasn't sure what she would do.

_ZZT ZZT ZZT,_ chuckled the Nanabi, _SOMETHING ALREADY _HAS_ HAPPENED…_

"What do you mean?" Fū asked aloud, ignoring the wince of pain that always came with speaking to the Bijū.

_THAT CHAKRA BURST WAS THE KYŪBI BREAKING FREE._

"The Kyūbi? Naruto!" Fū whirled again, then shook her head. "No, I need to trust that they'll be okay. Naruto gave me a mission, and I'm going to complete it."

_SENTIMENTAL CRETIN._

Fū pushed forward, ignoring the words of her prisoner and the apprehension that gripped her heart like an icy claw. The foul, ancient feeling that permeated Hidan's chakra was steadily growing stronger as the canopy continued to thicken with greenery.

Eventually, she entered a small clearing surrounded by lush foliage; in the center was a pit of broken rocks. She moved to stand at its rim, staring down at the rubble. "…He's down there, isn't he?"

_YOU HAVE COMPANY._

Fū glanced around to find a herd of deer surrounding her, staring her down. "Okay," she drawled, "that's new." One of the deer charged her, and Fū immediately ran through hand seals and crouched. "_**Doton: Doryūheki**_." The stag ran into an earthen wall which rose from the ground to defend the green-haired girl. Three more animals charged Fū, forcing her to push more chakra into the earth to erect three more barriers, forming a box around the hole in the ground.

Now safe from the deer, Fū settled into a more comfortable position and cracked her knuckles. "Alright, time to get to work. _**Doton: Doryūha**_; Earth Release: Earth Flow Wave." Rocks and earth rose from the pit in a wave and were deposited as far from the hole as possible. Fū continued to excavate the pit with her ninjutsu, digging deeper and deeper, all the while wondering if Naruto and Kakuzu were okay.

Then an arm emerged with a pile of rubble. Fū blinked. "Well, you don't see that every day." She stood up and leaned over the pit, peering into its depths. Far below, buried amidst the rocks and soil, she could spy a head of silver hair, a leg, and copious bloodstains. "Hello down there, Hidan."

"Who's up there?" A pause, then, "Hey! You're that bitch that was with the blonde and Kakuzu! Get me out of here!"

"My, aren't you pleasant?" She created a number of Earth Clones and then jumped into the hole, being careful to avoid the body parts strewn about. "You look like you've seen better days."

"Heh, that Leaf bastard thought his dogma could trump mine, but Jashin-sama always finds a way to reward his faithful followers! You should consider converting to – OW OW OW, BE CAREFUL!"

Lifting his head by his silver hair, Fū brought Hidan's pink eyes level with her own and stared at him. "You know, I can see why Kakuzu would want to get rid of you."

"That old bastard doesn't understand the tenets of my faith."

Fū yanked on Hidan's hair, causing the Jashinist to emit a yelp of pain. "I'd be careful with what you say about Kakuzu in my presence," she stated coldly, "especially since he's the one who has to sew you back together." Hidan muttered something under his breath, but the green-haired girl merely threw his head out of the pit; Hidan screamed epithets at her the whole while. "Hey!" she called up, gaining the attention of one of her clones. "Finish up here. Bring Hidan to where I am when you're done." Her duplicate nodded in understanding and then Fū was off, traveling underground to avoid the line-of-sight of the deer.

Feeling that she was a safe distance away, she surfaced from the ground and took to the trees, heading towards where she could sense a powerful chakra signature. "Alright, start talking," she demanded.

_WILLINGLY INITIATING COMMUNICATION WITH ME, _buzzed the Nanabi idly, _WHAT AN AMUSING TURN OF EVENTS._

"_Talk_, beetle," she growled.

_YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR DISAPPEARS RATHER QUICKLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE FOX'S CAGE._ When Fū didn't react, the Seven-Tails hummed disappointedly. _AS I SAID, THAT EXPLOSION OF CHAKRA WAS THE KYŪBI'S. GIVEN THAT THE BOY HAS NEVER DRAWN ON THAT DAMNABLE KITSUNE'S CHAKRA PREVIOUSLY, SOMETHING MUST HAVE OCCURRED TO MAKE HIM SO ENRAGED THAT HE IS DRAWING UPON IT UNCONSCIOUSLY. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE FOX HAS SOME CONTROL OF THE BOY'S BODY._

"So what do we do?"

The Nanabi's strange laughter echoed in her mind again. _WE? IT IS NONE OF MY BUSINESS IF THE NINE-TAILS INFLUENCES YOUR INFATUATION._

Intent on trying to come up with a game plan, Fū opted to ignore the Bijū's mocking remark. "Don't you hate the Kyūbi? Wouldn't you just _love_ the opportunity to rub it in the Kyūbi's face that you, the so-called great bringer of dust storms, defeated it?"

…_ZZT ZZT ZZT. CLEVER GIRL, MANIPULATING MY PRIDE IN SUCH A MANNER. YOU TRULY ARE AN INTERESTING CONTAINER._

Fū took that as the Nanabi's agreement to help. As the greenery thinned to nothing and the powerful chakra signature that the beetle had marked as the Kyūbi's grew stronger, Fū grew more and more apprehensive of what she would find. What had happened? Why had Naruto drawn on the Kyūbi's power? Was he okay? Was Kakuzu?

The former Taki-nin stopped at the edge of a forest of dead trees, the trunks splintered and broken. Most of them had collapsed under the explosion of some force, a great majority sustaining scorch marks upon their wooden surfaces. Fū stared at the scene, wide-eyed. "What happened here?"

"_RRRAAAAAWWRR!_"

Fū tried to maintain her balance as the roar's shockwave blew past her. She moved forward cautiously despite her fear of what awaited her, concern for Naruto and Kakuzu overwhelming her sense of self-preservation.

The site that greeted her kept her momentarily paralyzed.

Whole and partial bodies were strewn about a shallow, circular crater that was devoid of any sort of obstacles: trees, rocks, anything. Several of the corpses were garbed in outfits reminiscent of Konoha's ANBU, and blood was splattered liberally over the ground, bodies, and clothes. One of the bodies, Fū realized, a hand coming up to cover her mouth, was the tall, distinctive form of Kakuzu, his usual head and facial coverings absent. She had little time to consider the old nukenin's apparent death, however, as there was a larger problem before her.

Standing on all fours was what Fū presumed to be her fellow Jinchūriki, his skin a mixture of red and black. Vulpine ears stood atop his head, his eyes a blank, unseeing white. Red-orange chakra poured off of him in waves, accenting the demonic appearance granted by his skin and sharpened claws. Four tails waved behind him. _SO, THE FOX _DID _TAKE CONTROL,_ mused the Nanabi. _HOW INTERESTING._

Fū watched as clawed hands of pure chakra erupted from the ground and crushed a cloaked ANBU in their grasp before he could escape. Only a couple shinobi remained in the clearing, and while Fū wasn't interested in their safety, she couldn't say for sure what would happen after Naruto had killed them. "What's your plan?"

_THE ONLY WAY WE CAN NEUTRALIZE A BIJŪ IS WITH ANOTHER BIJŪ. UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, YOUR SEAL WAS NOT DESIGNED TO ALLOW ACCESS TO LARGE AMOUNTS OF MY CHAKRA AT ANY ONE MOMENT._

"So…what? You can't do anything?"

_I DIDN'T SAY THAT. BUT YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO EXPERIENCE A PAIN UNLIKE ANYTHING YOU'VE FELT BEFORE. PUSHING VAST QUANTITIES OF CHAKRA PAST THE SEAL WILL NOT BE EASY…OR PLEASANT._

Fū grimaced but nodded. "You'll go back when this is all over."

_ I WILL NOT HAVE A CHOICE. WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN THIS FORM FOR LONG._

"…You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

_IMMENSELY._

The kunoichi couldn't even respond as agonizing pain wracked her body. She screamed as the Nanabi's chakra flooded her system, forming a cloak of bubbling orange chakra around her body. It took on the vague form of the Nanabi, with six wings sprouting from Fū's back and a long, whip-like tail extended from the base of her spine. _"EXCELLENT,"_ buzzed the Nanabi as it took control of Fū's body, flapping the chakra wings and rising into the air, _"IT HAS BEEN FAR TOO LONG SINCE I'VE EXPERIENCED FLIGHT."_

'Hey! Don't waste any time!' Fū shouted in her mind.

_"NAG."_ The wings vibrated even faster, creating a whirlwind of dust that swept into the clearing and engulfed an unsuspecting ANBU. When the twister faded away, there was nothing left of the shinobi. _"AH, THE JOY OF ATOMIZING YOUR FOOLISH RACE."_ Fū watched from behind her Bijū's eyes as Naruto sent out his chakra arms at the remaining ANBU, and despite their initial resistance, both were eventually torn apart by the Jinchūriki's makeshift claws. _"ZZT ZZT, I SUPPOSE IT'S TIME TO STEP IN AND PUT THE KYŪBI IN ITS PLACE…"_

A gust of wind blew out towards Naruto, intended to catch the attention of the transformed Jinchūriki. _"HELLO KYŪBI,"_ buzzed the Seven-Tails mockingly as Naruto turned his attention to it. The boy roared in response, creating a shockwave which came close to blowing the other Jinchūriki out of the air. _"COME, MY SIBLING,"_ rasped the Nanabi, _"WE SHALL SEE WHO IS MORE POWERFUL."_

Chakra arms extended towards the cloaked Jinchūriki, but the Nanabi used its flying prowess to maneuver around the limbs and dive at Naruto. Fū's body slammed into Naruto's, sending the transformed Jinchūriki sliding back several feet. Naruto swiped at the airborne Jinchūriki, but the Nanabi blocked the blow with its chakra wings. The claw tips of the chakra appendage disintegrated, atomized by the contact with the Seven-Tails' chakra cloak. _"EVEN THE STRENGTH OF YOUR CURRENT FORM IS NOT ENOUGH TO PROTECT YOU FROM _MY _ABILITIES,"_ boasted the Bijū.

It called upon Fū's control over _**Doton**_, raising a series of earthen spires that angled at Naruto. One swipe of his four tails fractured the stones, leaving rocky stumps behind. Flapping its wings hard, the Nanabi sent a tornado of wind at the transformed Jinchūriki, disorienting him. Flying close to the earth, it stuck its chakra tail underground as Naruto broke through the whirlwind and roared, dividing his chakra into multiple appendages to attack the cloaked Jinchūriki.

The Nanabi wrapped more chakra around Fū's body to protect against the limbs. Using its jailor's body as a distraction, its tail emerged behind the transformed Jinchūriki and whipped forward, the tip driving into Naruto's spine. He roared as the Seven-Tails channeled its paralytic chakra into his body. The Bijū laughed as Naruto convulsed. _"WHERE IS YOUR BOASTING NOW, FOX?"_ it gloated.

'…Said the pot to the kettle.'

_"YOU SHOULD BE MORE GRATEFUL FOR MY SERVICES. I COULD HAVE SIMPLY LEFT YOUR INFATUATION TO THE KYŪBI'S CLUTCHES."_

'…'

_"IF YOU DESIRE TO BRING THE BOY BACK, YOU NEED TO REACH OUT TO HIM AND HELP HIM SUPPRESS THE KYŪBI."_

'You can't do it?'

_"REACHING OUT TO ANOTHER JINCHŪRIKI IS NOT ONE OF MY ABILITIES. I COULD ONLY GET YOU CLOSE ENOUGH TO MAKE THE MENTAL CONNECTION, AND I CAN KEEP THE JAILOR CONTAINED. HOWEVER, I WOULD RECOMMEND YOU HURRY…THIS FORM WILL NOT LAST MUCH LONGER."_

'Will do. And…thanks.'

_"THAT GRATITUDE WILL NOT LAST LONG."_

Fū was too busy focusing on a method to reach Naruto to pay attention to her Bijū. Due to the Nanabi taking control of her body, she had essentially been relegated to sitting in her mindscape and watching what was happening. Now, eyes closed, she focused on the implicit connection between a Jinchūriki and its Bijū, trying to extend it to Naruto like they had back in Konoha after meeting Gaara. She strained to feel some sort of bond between her and her fellow Jinchūriki, her partner-in-crime and savior. "Naruto!" she called, praying for a response from the darkness. "Where are you? You need to get control!

"NARUTO!"

-l-l-l-

Naruto felt like he was asleep. There was no real awareness of where he was or what he was doing, only the vague knowledge that his body was moving without his say-so. Coursing through his body was a strange bloodlust, one that he wasn't used to feeling.

"_Naruto!"_

The blonde tried to open his eyes, tried to look around, but the unusual lethargy that had seeped into his bones made the actions impossible. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he recognized the voice as familiar, feminine in pitch with a distinctly urgent undertone. He struggled to move, fought to gain some semblance of control over his body, but only the darkness of his eyelids greeted him.

"_Where are you? You need to get control!"_

'I'm trying!' he wanted to shout back, but his mouth wouldn't open, vocal chords struck dumb. Every aspect of his body felt restrained, shackled by chains or glued shut. The lack of control over his own body frustrated him, making him feel even more helpless than when…

…when _what?_ There was a block on his memory, as if everything that had happened recently and was happening currently was covered by a film. Vague images and shapes danced in his mind's eye, practically mocking him with their nearness and his inability to distinguish them. The knowledge that he should know these things and yet didn't was even more galling than the fact that he was unable to move. He struggled against the invisible bonds keeping him restrained, wanting to know what was going on, who and what he couldn't remember –

"_NARUTO!"_

The blonde's eyes snapped open. _Fū!_

He sat up like a shot, wide blues eyes taking in his surroundings. Water dripped off his body and from his blonde locks, creating ripples in the shallow liquid he was already seated in. "Pleasant," he muttered, lifting an arm and watching the water flow to his fingertips and then off them. _This is…my mindscape…_ His gaze drifted to the wall where the web of _**Jiongu**_ hung, eyes narrowing at the lack of masks that represented his _**Doton **_and _**Suiton**_ hearts. "What happened?" he wondered.

"_**DAMN THAT GIRL AND THAT ACCURSED INSECT!"**_

Naruto winced at the volume of the voice, his head throbbing. He got up and turned slowly to meet the bloodshot gaze of the Kyūbi. "What did you do?" he demanded.

"_**I DON'T ANSWER TO YOU,"**_ snarled the beast.

Throwing caution to the win, Naruto stepped forward and rapped his knuckles against the iron bars of the cage. "I think you do."

The Kyūbi growled at him, a low reverberation that echoed around the mindscape. Then the fox's deep chuckling rang out, confusing the blonde slightly. _**"YOU'RE SO QUICK TO PLACE THE BLAME ELSEWHERE. I ONLY TOOK ADVANTAGE OF YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL TURMOIL."**_

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose; dealing with the fox was a taxing effort. "Will you stop speaking in riddles and just tell me what's going on?"

"_**I'M A LIVING MASS OF MALEVOLENCE AND OTHER NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. WHEN YOU BECAME ENRAGED, YOU UNCONSCIOUSLY DREW UPON A COPIOUS QUANTITY OF MY CHAKRA."**_ The fox paused, allowing another amused chuckle to escape. _**"THIS IS JUST FURTHER PROOF THAT YOU ARE INCAPABLE OF CONTROLLING MY POWER. IF THAT DAMN BUTTERFLY HADN'T INTERFERED, I WOULD BE ON MY WAY TO KONOHA BY NOW."**_

The Kyūbi rumbled in such a delighted way that Naruto was tempted to call it a purr. _**"THE FEEL OF FLESH AND BLOOD BETWEEN MY PAWS…THE FUTILITY OF THE ANTS AS THEY TRIED TO FIGHT BACK…AH, HOW I MISSED IT ALL. IT'S TRULY A SHAME THERE WEREN'T MORE VICTIMS TO CRUSH. HOW DARE THAT INSECT INTERFERE WITH MY FUN!"**_

"Tragic," Naruto muttered. "You won't get another chance to take over my body again," he warned his tenant. "I don't need your power. I'll rely on my own strength and the abilities Kakuzu gave me." He turned and walked away from the cage.

"_**YOU'LL RETURN FOR MY POWER ONE DAY, BRAT,"**_ called the Bijū. _**"YOUR MENTOR WAS UNABLE TO WIN WITH HIS OWN STRENGTH, AND YOU WOULD BE DEAD WITHOUT MINE. REMEMBER THAT."**_

The fox's words echoed in his mind as Naruto's consciousness returned to the real world. Blue eyes blinked open slowly, adjusting to the vision of the open sky. A loud and obnoxious voice immediately made itself known. "—him up! I want my body back so I can sacrifice that heathen to Jashin-sama!"

"I'm not a medical expert, Hidan, I can't just control when he's going to wake up!"

"If that bastard Kakuzu had just prayed for Jashin-sama's forgiveness, maybe he'd still be alive to do this! Now I have to wait for this blonde weenie to wake his ass up –"

"Kaku – _AGGGHH!_"

"Naruto!" cried Fū, leaning over him. The blonde was convulsing on the ground, his body wracked with spasms from sitting up too quickly because of Hidan's announcement. Every nerve in his body screamed at him simultaneously, feeling like they had been set on fire. "You might want to take it easy," Fū cautioned, wincing herself. "Accessing the Bijū's chakra apparently has some negative repercussions for everyone who uses it."

_I DID SAY THAT YOU WOULD REGRET THANKING ME. ZZT ZZT ZZT._

Naruto watched Fū's movements with a careful eye. His companion seemed to be going through controlled motions, unwilling to move more than absolutely necessary. He slowly reached out a hand to her, but stopped when his own appendage came within his range of vision. Instead of the tanned flesh the teenager was used to, his skin was a bright red, almost as if he'd stayed in a hot spring for far too long. "What…happened to me?" he managed.

Fū looked distinctly downcast as she thought about how to respond. "You…were like some sort miniature Kyūbi. Four tails, claws, ears… I…had to use the Nanabi's chakra to restrain you." She rubbed a hand over an arm self-consciously. "It…came with a price."

Looking closer at the girl, Naruto could barely make out a scale pattern on her arms. Her eyes were a bright orange, and in the light he could see that they appeared to be compounded like an insect's. He clenched his fist tightly, gritting his teeth against the pain shooting through his arm. _Nnnggh…damn it all. Everything's screwed up. What would Kakuzu do?_

_Kakuzu…_ "Where's Kakuzu?"

Fū gestured to the side. "I'm not sure how, but he managed to escape all the fighting. His body's over there."

"Yeah," shouted Hidan, "boo-freaking-hoo and all that shit. Now put my body back together!"

"Shut up!" snapped both Jinchūriki. They exchanged wan smiles. "Must've been channeling Kakuzu," Naruto wisecracked.

"Yeah," Fū agreed. She glanced at the body of their mentor. "What do we do?" she whispered.

"Get over your fucking self!" Hidan yelled. "Put me –"

He was cut off abruptly as Naruto's arm extended and grabbed his head around his mouth. The blonde reeled the immortal's head in, bringing their eyes even. "You talk too much," he commented, commanding a thread to weave Hidan's lips together. "Much better," he sighed, tossing the head away amidst the man's muffled threats.

Naruto pushed himself to a sitting position, ignoring the feeling of raw skin being stretched and the pain that came with movement. Pieces of his flesh were already starting to reappear, slowly, spurred forward by the Kyūbi's regenerative powers. "We move forward," he resolved. "I think…that's what he would want. You know," he smiled wryly, "if he wasn't such a tremendous prick."

Both Jinchūriki grew momentarily pensive, honoring the memory of their fallen instructor. At length, Naruto managed to get to his feet, the aftereffects of the Kyūbi's chakra a dull ache. "Well, guess I should help Hidan. Maybe Pein will appreciate the favor. Wanna help?"

Fū offered him a smile that was partially contorted by a grimace. "As much fun as that sounds, it hurts if I move too much. My body wasn't meant to use so much of the Nanabi's chakra at once."

Naruto offered her an apologetic gesture. "Thanks though." He looked around at the clearing they were in, noting the lack of trees, various holes, and puddles of blood. Bodies were spread throughout the area, some halved at the torso, others missing arms or legs or heads. _So…this is what happens when the Kyūbi takes over, huh? _The blonde moved to kneel beside the nearest corpse, missing an arm and possessing a fist-shaped hole through his chest. _Pretty gruesome._ His eyes hardened. _They deserved to suffer…_

Staring at the corpse filled Naruto with a sense of vindication, knowing that he had properly avenged Kakuzu despite not being fully in control of his actions. His hand reached out of its own accord and gripped the porcelain white mask decorating the body's face. He removed it to see the insignia of the Hidden Leaf etched into the man's forehead protector. _Konoha…_ Again, the Hidden Leaf haunted him, perpetually spurring his hatred and desire for vengeance. The blonde was filled with a sudden compulsion to take the item, so he ripped the _hitae-ate_ from its place and pocketed it. There would be time later to digest all that had happened; right now, he was needed.

He turned away from the scene and walked over to where Hidan's body parts were stacked in a pile. "You've certainly seen better days," he commented, unknowingly echoing Fū's earlier words and picking up an arm. That was stitched back into the shoulder, the opposite one following with a suture just below the elbow. He worked his way through the rest of the pile until all that was left was the head. Watching _**Jiongu**_ reattach Hidan's head to his neck, Naruto was struck by inspiration. _I wonder… Can Kakuzu's body accept a heart?_

The idea was a bit radical. Corpses certainly weren't meant to function by arbitrarily shoving new hearts into them and hoping they would just come back to life. Heart transplants were lengthy and in-depth operations that required careful planning and understanding of the cardiovascular system.

But that applied to normal humans. _**Jiongu**_, by its very nature, had altered Kakuzu's body to become adept at switching out organs with startling ease, even replacing hearts autonomously after the previous one had failed. Based on that, it wasn't so outlandish to believe that an implanted heart from another _**Jiongu**_-user could theoretically bring Kakuzu back to life. There was nothing to be lost from at least trying.

He limped over to Kakuzu's body and kneeled beside it. Reaching for the _**Doton**_ heart stored on his back, the blonde was surprised to discover that he couldn't feel the power of the Earth Release chakra nature flowing through his body; a second feel revealed the lack of his _**Suiton**_ affinity as well. _Interesting,_ he mused, thinking back to the empty web in his mindscape, _did the Kyūbi's chakra destroy the hearts?_ Naruto shook his head. There was time for speculation later. Right now, he needed an extra heart. Not wanting to move, he called, "Hidan, I need you to bring me someone. Alive," he clarified. When his only response was the pink-eyed man glowering hatefully at him, the blonde sighed. His arm shot out and touched the man, mentally commanding the thread binding Hidan's lips together to unweave. "Body, if you would be so kind. Chop chop."

"Tch, you and Kakuzu are exactly the same –"

"Perish the thought," Naruto muttered.

"— forcing me to become blasphemous traitors like you! It's a sin to leave a sacrifice alive!"

Naruto stared at him. "Let me make this simple," he said, a tinge of frost entering his tone, "find me a damn body, bring it to me _alive_, or I'll undo all my work and have Fū put you back in whatever hellhole she found you in, in pieces. Got it?"

Hidan laughed. "Like you could. Just look at the sorry shape your ass is in."

"If you do this," Naruto began after a moment of thought, deciding that threats wouldn't work, "Kakuzu will end up being in your debt."

The former Yu-nin paused to consider the implications of that statement. "Ha _ha_! Then he'll _have_ to allow me to give my respect to Jashin-sama without complaining!" He walked past Naruto to pick up his scythe, which the blonde was surprised to find undamaged from the turmoil of his assault. "My lord will be most pleased with my renewed dedication."

"…Sure, right," agreed the blonde. Hidan's yammering didn't make much sense to him, but agreeing with the man seemed to be the best option in getting him to do as Naruto wanted.

Hidan immediately went on some tangent that Naruto instinctively tuned out. How Kakuzu had managed to travel around the continent with Hidan for over a year baffled Naruto. Five minutes with the Jashinist was enough to drive _him_ crazy. "Do you ever shut – crap!"

Wooden beams erupted from the earth around Naruto and Hidan. Naruto activated a hasty Violent Wind Palm aimed at the ground and ended up blasting himself into the air and onto a tree bough as the prison finished erecting itself. If the yelling was any indication, Hidan had not been fortunate enough to escape. Tenzō stepped out of the shadows. "Well done, Kyūbi Jinchūriki."

"Are you kidding me?" Naruto exclaimed, resisting the urge to scream in a mixture of pain and frustration. "How did you even find me?"

"I am highly attuned to the amount of chakra thrown off by the Bijū. The output that I felt coming from this area made it easy to find you."

_Fucking fox!_ Naruto snarled in his mind.

_**YOU HAVE ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME.**_

"Come with me, Jinchūriki, and I will let your friend go free," offered Tenzō.

"Oi! That little pansy and I aren't friends!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Naruto muttered. Still, regardless of the definition of his and Hidan's relationship, the former Yu-nin was the blonde's best chance to escape. Naruto was in no condition to fight; just activating the _**Fūton: Reppūshō **_had brought about a surge of agony. _How do I free Hidan? Those wooden pillars are practically indestructible._ He glanced to the side to find Fū gone from her original position. _So I have to distract him, huh? This'll be…fun._ "If you want me, come get me," he taunted.

…_I feel like I'm going to regret that._

Despite the cat mask that hid Tenzō's face, Naruto had the distinct impression that the ANBU was scowling at him. The man performed seals, and Naruto jumped off the tree branch as a block of wood grew from the trunk. He looped several threads of _**Jiongu**_ around the limb and vaulted himself to the next tree, wincing slightly at the impact. _Your help might be appreciated,_ he told the Kyūbi.

_**YOU COMPLAIN ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF MY CHAKRA, AND THEN YOU BEG FOR MY ASSISTANCE. WHAT HAPPENED TO NOT RELYING ON MY POWER?**_

_Don't need your power, just your healing ability._

_**I PREFER TO WATCH YOU SUFFER.**_

_Bastard!_ He weaved through the tree trunks as a series of wooden blocks chased after him, all growing from Tenzō's arm. All he needed to do was stall the ANBU agent until Fū could free Hidan.

Meanwhile, the green-haired girl was staring at the Akatsuki member through the wooden bars of the man's prison. Hidan, apparently, was unsatisfied with her lack of progress. "Are you gonna just keep lookin' at me, or are you gonna do something, you stupid bitch?"

"Yeah, yell at me, that'll help." _Ideas? _she prompted the Nanabi.

_ONE. TELL THE LOUDMOUTH TO MOVE TO ONE SIDE._

"Hidan, move." She was surprised when the Jashinist obeyed without protesting.

_PREPARE YOURSELF._ Fū grimaced as the Nanabi pushed its chakra through the seal, creating a pair of wings that sprouted from her spine. She vibrated them quickly at the Bijū's behest, sending out a burst of its chakra before the wings dissipated. _THAT SHOULD DO._

The cage keeping Hidan contained was now half the size, a concave shape carved out of one end. Hidan walked out of the opening, twirling his scythe expertly with one hand. "Where's the masked fucker?"

"Not far," Fū gasped, bent over on hands and knees.

"He'll become a sacrifice to Jashin-sama!" Then he was gone, cackling madly.

Fū struggled to her feet, breath coming in labored pants. Allowing the Nanabi to squeeze out that last bit of chakra had tolled her exhausted body even further. She limped over to the wooden prison and leaned against it, trying to control the sharp throb pounding in her head and resonating throughout her body. _How do we get out of here?_

Naruto stumbled into the clearing then, tumbling head over feet and ending up on his rear. He shook his head and got up slowly. "We need to go," he said. "Hidan's keeping Tenzō busy."

"You trust Hidan?"

"Not particularly, no," admitted the blonde. "But every trait that makes him a nuisance also makes him a good distraction. Besides," he continued, walking over to Kakuzu's body, "all else aside, Hidan is still an S-class nukenin. He can handle himself. We need to worry about us. Let's go."

-l-l-l-

Carrying Kakuzu was _hard_, Naruto realized. Granted, the man was over a head taller than him and weighed at least 40 pounds more, so the awkwardness of trying to travel with him was understandable, but still…Naruto was not cut out to be a pack mule. Especially not in the condition the Kyūbi's chakra had left his body in.

_Damn the fox!_ he cursed mentally, adjusting the placement of Kakuzu's body on his back. Without either of his other hearts, his ability to produce solid clones was nonexistent – unlike Kakuzu, he couldn't yet use chakra natures other than wind without the hearts – which was unfortunate given how useful they would be in the current situation.

Struggling forward with his mentor weighing him down, Naruto glanced behind to check Fū's progress. His fellow Jinchūriki trudged in his footsteps, pained flinches accompanying every step. _We'll never make it like this,_ he realized sourly. _Sound is too far, and neither of us are in peak health._ Working his mind furiously for a solution, Naruto almost slapped himself as he landed upon one. Dropping Kakuzu's body to the ground and ignoring Fū's half-formed question of what he was doing, the blonde ran through familiar hand signs. "_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_," he uttered wearily, feeding what chakra he had recovered into the technique.

Kamegensō appeared in a cloud of smoke. One black eye rotated so it could stare at the blonde. "Hello Naruto," greeted the reptile.

"Hey 'Gensō," returned his summoner. "Sorry to ask this of you, but we kinda need a ride."

The chameleon's other eye roved from Fū – clutching her shoulder in pain – to the prone form of Kakuzu. "No problem." His tongue shot out and stuck to Kakuzu, bringing the corpse into his mouth with no questions. Naruto and Fū were quick to follow. "Where to?" he questioned, maw still open.

"North," Naruto replied, "to Otogakure." He gazed cautiously at the surrounding area, paranoia gripping him. Hidan was nigh indestructible, and Naruto supposed his skill was decent, but ANBU were tenacious, and the Jinchūriki didn't fully trust the silver-haired man to keep Tenzō at bay for long. "And if you could be camouflaged, that'd be great."

Kamegensō rumbled unintelligibly and closed his mouth, activating the ability of the chameleons to turn invisible.

From inside the reptile, Naruto and Fū tried to find stability with each step Kamegensō took. The chameleon's gait was slow, and the blonde was sure that the trip to Oto would take some time, but it was better than trekking even more slowly by foot. He leaned against the wall of the summon's mouth and closed his eyes, allowing the monotonous movement of the chameleon's walk to lull him to sleep.

Naruto wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the chameleon's rumblings stirred him from his slumber and into groggy wakefulness. "Wha?"

"There are men out here threatening me if I don't stop."

"Ah." _Troublesome gatekeepers. I suppose it's good that they're doing their job._ "You can go now, 'Gensō," he said. "And thanks for the help."

"It was my pleasure, Naruto." He disappeared, leaving the blonde to drop 10 feet to the ground. Naruto landed gracefully amidst the _'thud'_ of Kakuzu's body hitting the ground and Fū's muted groan of pain. Apparently she had still been asleep.

Naruto waved to the guards. "Tell your Angel that Uzumaki Naruto has come to call on her god."

The guards held a whispered conference before one of them disappeared. Naruto sat down in the dirt and waited patiently for a response. Konan arrived in a flurry of paper over twenty minutes later, an emotionless expression plastered upon her face. "Come," she beckoned.

Naruto hefted Kakuzu's body over his shoulder again and followed the blue-haired woman, Fū beside him. Konan was apparently not one for small talk, for the journey was made in relative silence. The blonde wondered if she actually knew what had happened through some method privy to the full-fledged Akatsuki members, but was shaken from that musing by her divergence away from the tower Pein resided in. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"Hospital," was the curt reply.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Did he know about this? That Kakuzu and Hidan were in trouble?"

"Pein is aware of everything."

Anger boiled slowly in the pit of Naruto's stomach, but he restrained himself from saying anything else, instead focusing on moving forward with the burden of his mentor's weight. They reached the hospital soon enough, and Konan directed them towards a secluded room with grey walls and surgical equipment. "Wait here," she commanded before disappearing.

Naruto laid Kakuzu down on one of two beds while Fū sat on the other, body slumping in relief. "Was it really wise to come back here?" she asked.

"Do you have a better idea?"

Fū looked down. "I suppose not. I just…" She trailed off as a powerful presence became noticeable in the room.

Both Jinchūriki looked up to see Pein standing in the doorway, face expressionless. The orange-haired man stared at them, like they were specimens under a microscope. Finally, he said, "I believe it is prudent that we speak."

Naruto fought down the surge of anger directed at Pein, instead raising his head slowly to look the older man in his ringed, grey eyes. "Get me a heart – a shinobi's, a civilian's, a prisoner's for all I care," he stated in a dangerously calm voice, "and _then_ we can _talk_."

Pein bore the boy's flat expression without any change in his own. After a minute of intense staring, he nodded, mentally contacting Konan and telling her to bring in a prisoner from the cells. The blue-haired woman appeared several minutes later with a man bound and gagged; he was forced to kneel before Naruto, hatred burning in his eyes.

The blonde's own blue eyes were cold, glittering like ice in the light of the hospital room. There was no mercy present in those orbs as black threads wriggled out from his forearm and dug into the man's skin. Moments later, his heart was torn from his body in a spray of blood, the organ pumping solidly in Naruto's hand. Naruto turned to the bed and placed the heart on his mentor's chest, directly over the long suture running from his clavicle to his pectoral. _**Jiongu**_ pried open the stitch and deposited the organ inside before withdrawing back into Naruto.

Naruto waited with bated breath to see if his long-shot idea would work. Each second that passed felt like a lifetime, but finally, Kakuzu's body convulsed once, a rattling gasp escaping his mouth. The nukenin's threads stitched shut the opening on his chest, and Naruto bowed his head in silent relief that his teacher was alive. Konan walked over and felt the man's pulse before hooking him up to a variety of machines. "Heartbeat is slow but steady," she reported, "although brain function is minimal." She turned to Pein. "I belief the trauma of dying may have placed him in some sort of vegetative state."

"What?"

Pein placed a hand upon Naruto's shoulder and gripped it tightly. "Come with me," he ordered. "It is time for us to have a conversation."

"But Kakuzu –"

"You have done what you could," Pein interjected, "unless you have extensive knowledge of the medical field." He exchanged glances with Konan, who immediately swept out of room. The grey-eyed man turned to lead Naruto down the hall, but paused in the doorway. "I found this in Orochimaru's library," he mentioned, reaching into his sleeve and pulling out a tightly rolled scroll. He tossed it behind him towards Fū, who had remained quiet throughout the entire ordeal. "I thought you might find it interesting." Then he walked out, and Naruto had no choice but to follow.

The blonde trotted to catch up to the taller man. "What did you give her?"

"Information," Pein replied, "which I can only assume Orochimaru managed to obtain from the office of the Tsuchikage many years ago."

Naruto opened his mouth to ask for specifics, but Fū's piercing shriek of, "WHAT DO YOU _MEAN __**JINTON **_USES _**KATON**_?" interrupted him.

Pein turned to find Naruto glancing back down the way they had come. "Tell me," he began, causing Naruto to whip his head towards him, "what it was like to lose your mentor."

The blonde's face morphed into an expression of rage. "You knew," he accused, "you knew that Kakuzu was going to die."

"I did not."

"_Don't lie!_" snarled the Jinchūriki, marching up to Pein and getting in his face as best he could.

"I trust my subordinates to be able to fend for themselves," stated the orange-haired man. "They are shinobi of repute, ninja who are not easily overwhelmed."

"You let him die because you thought he could handle himself?"

Akatsuki's leader stared the Jinchūriki in his blue eyes. "Tell me…do you think Kakuzu would have been pleased to be rescued?" Naruto took a moment to consider that idea, some of the anger leaving his system at the thought of his mentor's reaction to being saved by another. "I thought not." He turned away from the blonde and continued walking. "By the time I had become aware of the situation, it was too late to do anything. His death would have been an unfortunate event if you hadn't returned him to the world of the living."

"Zetsu can pop out from trees!" Naruto retorted. "He could've gotten there in a flash! Don't tell me it was too late to do anything!"

"Zetsu is not a frontline shinobi. I prefer to minimize casualties." They turned a corner. "Now you understand the true definition of pain."

Naruto was confused by the abrupt subject change. "I…what?"

"There are many variations of pain. Physical pain, such as the loss of a limb or the breaking of bones; emotional pain, experienced through the loss of those we are close to; spiritual pain, often felt through empathy. Humans are, on the whole, a pathetic and fragile race of creatures. Yet, despite all these different types of pain, there is only one _true_ pain." Ringed, grey eyes turned to the blonde. "You have felt it."

Naruto thought back to the forest of dead trees, of watching the one person who had given him a chance fall to the ground and lay there, unmoving. The knowledge that Kakuzu, the closest thing he had to a father-figure, had died had given rise to such feelings of hatred and agony that he had called upon droves of the Kyūbi's chakra and morphed into a miniature version of the Bijū.

The blonde turned blue eyes filled with comprehension towards Akatsuki's leader. "You have realized it," Pein intoned. "People, by nature, cling to others and create communities based on these connections. They experience sadness when people they know die, but there are others to help them move on, to fill the void. But for those who don't have such a network, the loss of a parent or a friend is keenly felt. As a Jinchūriki, you have a good grasp of what this is like.

"The death of the only person you are close to…_that_ is true pain. And this foolish world and its wars know nothing of that." There was a lull as Pein allowed Naruto to consider his words before he continued, "You are fortunate. There are not many people who can claim to have experienced such pain and then get a chance to talk to the person who passed. You should take advantage of such an opportunity."

Pein began to walk away, but Naruto's quiet call of, "Wait," stopped him. "What…when did you know the true meaning of pain?"

"Konoha-nin invaded my home during the Second Shinobi World War and killed my parents, who were civilians. That was the first time." He paused. "Years later, my motivation to fight for peace died doing what he thought was right. He saved my life and inspired Akatsuki's goals."

"It's hard, not being able to tell someone how hugely they've impacted your life, isn't it?"

Nagato thought of how Yahiko only lived on as a puppet, serving as the Deva Path of the bodies known collectively as Pein. He could only hope that wherever he was, Yahiko would be satisfied with the ultimate plan he had put together to bring peace to the world. "Yes," he said at last, "it is."

"Hey!" Naruto called as Pein started walking again. "You know that Hidan's lost somewhere, right?"

"Of course. I know everything."

Left alone in the hallway, Naruto found himself ruminating on Pein's dialogue. He reached into his pocket and withdrew the Konoha _hitae-ate_, gazing at the metal thoughtfully. After a moment, a tendril of _**Jiongu**_ slipped out from underneath his skin and, with a tiny application of wind chakra, scored the headband.

It would be his permanent reminder that the Hidden Leaf would pay for all the pain it had caused him.

-l-l-l-

Fū was as close to seething as she had ever been. "I've been using it wrong the ENTIRE _TIME_?"she screeched.

"_OBNOXIOUS GIRL,"_ buzzed the Nanabi irritably, _"SHOULDN'T YOU BE IN TOO MUCH PAIN TO BOTHER ME?"_

She had cracked open the scroll as Naruto and Pein had left the hospital room and started perusing its contents. It was apparently written by the second host of the Nanabi, the brother of the man who would become the Nidaime Tsuchikage. And it had labeled _**Jinton**_ as a combination of _**Doton**_, _**Fūton**_, and _**Katon**_ affinities.

Outraged at this new revelation, Fū had immediately entered her mindscape to confront the Seven-Tails. "Why didn't you _tell me_?"

"_DON'T YOU HAVE BETTER THINGS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT? YOUR EYES, FOR INSTANCE. OR YOUR SCALES."_

"I knew there would be consequences to using your power when I agreed to let you take over," she snapped. "What I _didn't_ think was that you would keep information from me that would risk my life…YOUR life." Arms crossed, she tapped her foot impatiently, glaring through the honeyed bars of the Bijū's cage. "Now, are you going to start talking, or am I just going to have to read this scroll?" she asked, waving a conjured image of said object in front of the demon's sight.

"…_WHAT AN INTERESTING CONTAINER YOU ARE,"_ rasped the beetle. Fū rolled her eyes; that seemed to be the Nanabi's go-to phrase whenever she managed to surprise it. _"FINE._

"_MANY YEARS AGO, I WAS CAPTURED BY THE SHINOBI OF IWAGAKURE. THEY SEALED ME INTO A HUMAN, BUT SEALING METHODS FOR THE BIJŪ WERE NOT WELL-CONCEIVED AT THAT TIME, AND I BROKE FREE WITHIN TWO AND A HALF YEARS. OF COURSE, IN THAT TIMEFRAME, THEY CAME UP WITH NEW ONES, AND I WAS IMMEDIATELY SEALED WITHIN MY SECOND HOST._

"_HE WAS…ADEPT. HE CAME TO UNDERSTAND MY POWERS AND FOUND A WAY TO CHANNEL THEM INTO AN ADVANCED CHAKRA NATURE THAT HE CALLED __**JINTON**__. DURING THAT TIME, HIS BROTHER MŪ SPIED ON HIM AND MANAGED TO RECREATE THE __**JINTON**__ CHAKRA NATURE FOR HIS OWN USES. HE BECAME THE NIDAIME TSUCHIKAGE…AND HIS BROTHER, MY JINCHŪRIKI, WAS TRADED TO TAKIGAKURE AS PART OF A UNIVERSAL PEACE TREATY FOR MY SIBLING, THE GOBI. THEY APPARENTLY BELIEVED THEY COULD KEEP THE STATUS QUO BY CONTROLLING A TAILED BEAST WITH MORE TAILS, ESPECIALLY SINCE IWA ALREADY POSSESSED THE YONBI. REGARDLESS, THE WATERFALL SHINOBI IMMEDIATELY EXTRACTED ME, KILLING HIM, AND SEALED ME INTO MY THIRD CONTAINER. YOU ARE MY FIFTH."_

"Quite a colorful history," Fū commented. "So, you said that this second Jinchūriki created _**Jinton**_ by channeling your powers. What's that mean?"

"_I AM RENOWNED AS THE GREAT DEMOLISHER. EVERY BEAT OF MY WINGS HAS THE ABILITY TO ATOMIZE PEOPLE, TO MOLECULARIZE OBJECTS, TO DISTINTEGRATE THE VERY MOUNTAINS INTO HEAPS OF DUST!"_

"More boasting…what a shock," muttered the Jinchūriki. "Didn't stop you from getting captured in the first place, now did it?" The Nanabi buzzed angrily, the vibrations of its wings slamming against the bars of its cage. "So that's what happened when I fought that guy from Sound during the invasion," she realized, recalling how the teenager had exited her body without an arm. "Why did you never tell me this? I've been wasting all my time with this half-assed version when the real Dust Release sounds incredibly powerful."

"_YOU MADE AN ASSUMPTION. YOU WERE WRONG. I FOUND YOUR NEW METHOD TO BE…INTRIGUING. IT POSSESSED POTENTIAL, AND YOU MADE IMPRESSIVE STRIDES IN ADAPTING IT TO YOUR WHIMS. FOR A HUMAN, ANYWAY."_

"Your arrogance is highly unbecoming."

"_REGARDLESS, THE BASTARDIZED VERSION OF __**JINTON**__ YOU CREATED BECAME USEFUL. THE REAL VERSION IS HIGHLY CHAKRA INTENSIVE AND REQUIRES A GREAT DEAL OF TIME TO PREPARE. IN ADDITION, IT IS NOT EXTRAORDINARILY CONDUCIVE TO YOUR CHOSEN PROFESSION OF BOUNTY HUNTING. NO BODY MEANS NO PAYMENT."_

"…Did you just make a joke?"

"…_YOU HAVE PROVEN TO BE AN INTRIGUING JINCHŪRIKI,"_ noted the Seven-Tails somewhat reluctantly. This time, it almost sounded like a compliment rather than idle musing. _"I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHERE YOU GO WITH THIS NEW KNOWLEDGE."_

"Thanks for being helpful this time," Fū said before returning to the real world.

-l-l-l-

"Hello Hidan-san!"

"You!"

"**You look like you've seen better days."**

"Aw, shut up, you plant bastard."

"Aren't you going to tell us what happened?"

"Some Leaf asshole resisted being sacrificed for Jashin-sama's great will. Cowardly bastard ran off after attacking with a bunch of trees."

"**So you weren't able to kill him?** How embarrassing."

"SHUT UP! What're you here for anyway?"

"**Follow us. **We're here to take you back to meet your partner."

"So the bastard survived, huh? Maybe now he'll have a greater appreciation for Jashin-sama."

"…**No wonder Kakuzu doesn't like him. He's obnoxious."**

"HEY! I'm right here, asshole!"

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu woke up on the third day of their stay in Otogakure. He was a bit disoriented and extremely grouchy, but Naruto was too happy to see him _alive_ to care about his personality.

Then Kakuzu went and commented on how pathetic it was for him to be so emotional, and Naruto remembered exactly why the man was such a pain to deal with. In a way, it was nostalgic.

That was when Hidan entered the room and proceeded to mock the former Taki-nin, resulting in an insult match between the two. Naruto sighed somewhat exasperatedly. Truly, some things never changed.

Very little had occurred during Kakuzu's bout of unconsciousness. Fū had remained hospitalized for a solid day, alternating between sleeping and reading the scroll Pein had given her. Even after recovering from her overuse of the Nanabi's chakra, she had pored over the parchment with a fire in her orange eyes, trying to absorb the knowledge like a sponge. Sometimes she had disappeared for stretches of time, though she had always returned muttering incredulously about ratios and three elements.

Naruto found he didn't quite possess the brevity to ask if she had finally succumbed to insanity, and so left his companion to brood in peace.

Hidan, surprisingly, had shown up not long before the end of the first day, talking loudly and complaining about 'wood fuckers' and 'plant assholes'. The blonde had guesses about the Jashinist's irate mood, but decided that not engaging Hidan in conversation was a better idea than any of the alternatives.

Konan had appeared each day to check on Kakuzu's condition, and Pein had returned once to drag Hidan away, offering to explain Akatsuki's plans in full to the silver-haired man. Naruto had been grateful for the reprieve from the immortal's voice.

Despite the strange urge to maintain a bedside vigil on Kakuzu the entire time (Kakuzu hardly needed protection, he thought sarcastically), Naruto had opted to roam the Village Hidden in Sound and explore what it had to offer. The feeling of tranquility the village exuded had calmed the tumultuous mixture of emotions the blonde had experienced over the past several days. Otogakure possessed a homey feel that Naruto – a wanderer with no permanent abode – found oddly relaxing.

That hadn't prevented him from popping in to check on Kakuzu's condition every so often, but otherwise the rest of his time had been spent planning his next steps. Frustratingly, 'wait for Kakuzu to wake up' had remained the constant priority, his only anchor to not leaving Oto at a moment's notice.

Now that the man was awake though, Naruto felt a weight lift off his chest. He sort of missed the man's sarcastic ripostes and snarky commentary.

Kakuzu's green eyes settled their stoic gaze on his blonde disciple, sliding wordlessly over the scored forehead protector he now wore and settling into an intense gaze into his pupil's blue orbs. "You revived me," he stated questioningly, "using _**Jiongu**_."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah…"

"…Intriguing." Then his gaze hardened into something akin to scorn. "Your sentiment will be the death of you someday."

Naruto spluttered, outraged. "My _sentiment_ will be my _death_? _You died from your arrogance!_ AND I _SAVED YOU!_"

"Out of attachment," Kakuzu snorted, "not necessity. Resurrecting the dead is a fool's errand."

"YOU COULD AT LEAST _THANK ME!_"

"Hardly."

"Hey, Kakuzu," Hidan interrupted, "what was Hell like? A blaspheming bastard like you definitely went there. I bet your wrinkled old ass got roasted!"

"I would like a word with Kakuzu," interjected a different voice before Kakuzu could retort.

All eyes turned to the doorway to find Pein standing there, face expressionless. The former Taki-nin rose in bed so that he was upright, back leaning against the pillows. Hidan snorted. "Tch, fine." He pushed past the orange-haired man, his grumblings echoing down the corridor.

Naruto glanced between the two men. "Go, brat," Kakuzu dismissed. "We shall talk later." The blonde hesitated, but then bobbed his head and left. Kakuzu waited until he was sure they were alone before saying, "What business would you like to discuss?"

Pein shut the door and then moved to stand at the foot of Kakuzu's bed. "Your student was rather worried about your condition," he began conversationally. "He demanded that I get him a heart to revive you." He paused, turning his gaze to the closed door. "Such dedication is…impressive."

"Foolish would be a more apt term. Immortality is a falsehood. The dead should remain such."

"Hm." Pein returned his attention to the bedridden man. "How dedicated are you to Akatsuki?"

"I am a member, am I not?"

"Yes, but men of your caliber – of Akatsuki's caliber – all have personal agendas. At first glimpse, one would believe that yours follows whichever path proves most profitable. However, I don't belief this to be the case. At least, not in its entirety. So I ask again, how dedicated are you to Akatsuki?"

Kakuzu stared at his superior, considering his options. In his current condition, there was certainly nothing he could do to stop Pein from killing him, though he sincerely doubted that was the man's intention. That meant that he had to engage the orange-haired man's word game and hope to give the appropriate answer. Finally, he settled on saying, "I have actively pursued our targets and have not hindered Akatsuki's progress."

"And yet you would prefer that the two Jinchūriki remain alive rather than see Akatsuki's plans come to fruition."

"…I dislike wasting valuable resources," replied the former Taki-nin slowly, "but if their deaths are a necessity for our plans, then I will not stand in the way."

"Hm." Pein's grey eyes flickered towards the door once again. "They have proven themselves quite useful," he commented tonelessly. "Far more useful than I would have originally anticipated." Kakuzu managed to reel in his surprise at what he thought was the shorter man praising the two Jinchūriki. "They have become interesting assets to this organization."

Kakuzu's eyes narrowed. "That is…positive."

Once more, Pein's gaze turned back to the former Taki-nin. "You should be commended for how well you trained them."

"I would refrain from phrasing it in such a manner. My students would argue that my teaching input was minimal at best."

"How would you like a second opportunity?"

This time, Kakuzu couldn't contain the shocked widening of his eyes, though it quickly settled into a suspicious gaze. "…What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm curious to see how far their loyalty extends. They have shown a strong attachment to you despite your current affiliations, and have been working for Akatsuki as long as you have despite knowing what the organization's intentions are. Perhaps we can continue to capitalize on their usefulness…but that is only possible as long as they continue to live."

"Your plans have changed?"

Pein shook his head. "No. But there may be a way to enact Akatsuki's ultimate goal without killing either of the Jinchūriki. It would require research, but the benefit of having two fully-trained Jinchūriki on Akatsuki's side outweighs the risk. This is why I would like you to continue training them."

"And if they become stronger than you?"

"The likelihood of that occurring is miniscule." Pein paused, then continued, "This is not a guarantee that they will live." He walked to the door and opened it. "You should leave when you've recovered. And take Hidan with you…his voice has become irritating to hear."

"Preaching to the choir," Kakuzu deadpanned. "Wait," he continued as Pein made to leave the room, "what made you change your mind? This is a rather abrupt shift in attitude."

"Some qualities people possess are rare and invaluable," Pein replied at length, lingering in the doorframe without turning around. "To deprive the world of such a person before he's had the chance to fully understand himself…would be a travesty, don't you agree?" Then, without waiting for a response, he was gone.

Kakuzu was left to ponder the cryptic words of Akatsuki's leader in silence, analytical mind working to decode just what exactly Pein had seen in Naruto and/or Fū that had caused him to reconsider killing them.

Two days later found the mercenary healed, though in dire need of restocking his supply of hearts. With a moderately confused Naruto and Fū in tow, and a whining Hidan bringing up the rear, Kakuzu and his troupe departed the safety of Otogakure heading west.

Ringed, grey eyes watched them leave, communicating a silent bid of fortitude for their journey ahead.

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** …I think I had like 40+ people crawl out of the woodwork to tell me how awesome I was for killing Kakuzu. I just…don't even know. Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement!

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), while I needed Kakuzu to die so Naruto could have his emotional breakdown/realization, I also need Kakuzu alive so Naruto can become truly badass. Hence his revival. A couple of people actually guessed at this in their reviews. Next chapter will showcase the results of Naruto's (and Fū's) trip with Kakuzu.

I think I might've stretched the realm of plausibility a bit with the Bijū, but given some of the things that have happened in canon, I might still be well within my comfort zone. Sorry to people looking forward to a huge fight from Naruto in four-tailed form, but that's not really what I want to focus on. The knowledge that he completely crushed the remaining ANBU will have to fill you up. There'll be a massive fight in two chapters, so you'll just have to wait for that.

In the meantime, I hope this satisfied somewhat. Let me know what you think!


	17. Progression

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

Sasori – encapsulated in the puppet body known as Hiruko – stared at the massive _thing_ before him and momentarily lamented specializing in_** Kugutsu no Jutsu**_. Puppets could vary in sizes, but few were generally bigger than a human, and given that Sasori's collection was comprised of _human_ puppets, their sizes were already spoken for.

If his laughter was any indication, Deidara apparently found the situation hilarious. "Hey, Sasori no Danna," he called from atop a clay owl hovering high above the former Suna-nin, "better hurry up and capture the Sanbi! I know that you don't like to make people wait, hm!"

Sasori scowled at his partner's mocking. He had expected to have to fight a Jinchūriki, not the monstrous turtle-like creature before him. Jinchūriki were humans, after all, and that made them susceptible to things like poison and kunai and other booby traps that inhabited his puppets. When he and his partner had ventured into Sea Country two years ago, they had discovered that the sea monster torturing the townsfolk had been some girl who had escaped the clutches of one of Orochimaru's lackeys.

She had, disappointingly, not been the container to the Three-Tailed Giant Turtle, but she had at least been physiologically human. Despite the fact that Orochimaru was gone – and so throwing a monkey wrench into the Sannin's plans no longer held the same sense of vindication – Sasori had taken great delight in killing the girl with his puppets, especially since the trip had been a huge waste of time.

The former Suna-nin sighed. There was little option available but to rely upon his current partner for assistance; Deidara's explosions were far better suited to toppling large targets than his precision-oriented puppets. "This would go faster if you would help," he intoned blandly. It was as close as the puppeteer would get to asking for help without letting his pride suffer by being so blatant about it.

"Hm?" The former Iwa-nin cocked his head to one side at his senior's statement. Then he laughed. "Ha! This is the ultimate proof that my art is better than yours, Danna!" he crowed.

As Deidara wheeled forward on his owl, hands chewing on clay – and making it out of earshot before the older artist could growl a comeback – Sasori ejected himself from Hiruko and sealed the construct within a scroll. He pulled out another scroll and unraveled it, revealing the form of the Sandaime Kazekage. Black granules immediately began to spew out of the puppet's mouth. "Let us begin."

"_KATSU!_"

"_**Satetsu Kesshū**_."

The Sanbi roared.

-l-l-l-

Deep in the mountains of Earth Country, another Akatsuki member struggled with his own battle. The terrain possessed impressive divots and crags shorn from its surface, trenches dug into the rocky face by streams of water and lava. Hoshigaki Kisame's cheeks puffed out as a torrent of molten lava came flowing towards him. "_**Suiton: Dai Bakusui Shōha**_."

Water spewed forth from the former Kiri-nin's mouth, solidifying the lava and swirling into a huge dome of liquid. The renegade Swordsman of the Mist merged with Samehada and entered the hemisphere with a chuckle, his shark-like appearance exemplified even further. "You won't be able to escape my _**Suirō Sameodori no Jutsu**_."

Five minutes later, the entire construct collapsed with a huge splash, water falling everywhere. Kisame stretched as Samehada unmerged with him. "Well, that was certainly challenging. Khe he, though I suppose it's my fault for wanting to capture this Jinchūriki by myself." He slung the unconscious form of the Iwa-nin over his sword's tip and began walking, allowing the blade's chakra-absorbing properties to keep his victim unconscious. "Time to find Itachi. Hope he didn't get too bored waiting for me."

-l-l-l-

Naruto dove behind a tree and pulled his legs to his chest, breath coming in rough bursts of air. No matter how many times it happened, the blonde was always surprised at the extremes his so-called sparring partners went to in order to train him.

"C'MERE YOU PANSY!"

Fortunately, Hidan had never really grasped the concept of subtlety, something Naruto knew frustrated Kakuzu to no end. The Jinchūriki dropped flat to his belly as the Jashinist's large scythe tore clean through the base of the tree. "Timber!" cackled the silver-haired man as the greenery toppled to the side.

Naruto rolled onto his back to find Hidan standing over him, weapon raised to slash across the blonde's body. "_**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!**_" He exhaled the Great Fireball at the former Yu-nin's face, temporarily blinding Hidan and giving the boy a chance to get up and move away. "Suck it!" he taunted.

Hidan charged at him, eyes bloodshot and face streaked with scorch marks. "Bring it, fucker! We can relish in the pain together!" Naruto ducked the sideways slash of the weapon and attempted to sweep Hidan's legs out from under him. Predictably, the former Yu-nin jumped, and Naruto immediately ran through seals for a wind jutsu. The strength behind the technique blasted Hidan out of the clearing, but Naruto watched the Akatsuki member throw his scythe into the canopy of a cluster of trees, allowing the coil of metal attached to the end to wrap around a bough; he hung there like an oversized fruit.

Naruto sighed in relief, grateful for the momentary reprieve. Hidan wasn't exactly the most difficult shinobi to fend off – especially taking into account his predictability, preference for close-range combat, and easily exploitable personality – but his sheer resilience made him a rather tiresome threat. Attacks that would normally down other opponents from either pain or fatal blows affected the Jashinist but didn't stop him. In fact, Hidan often grew _more_ dangerous upon suffering such inflictions.

He was dragged from his thoughts as Fū went flying – literally, two wings sprouted from her back – past his vision. She turned to look behind her, released a short shriek, then took off even faster as a mass of black zipped through the air in her wake, firing condensed balls of air. A foreboding feeling of unease settled in the pit of Naruto's stomach. _That…_can't_ be good…_

"Hello, brat."

Naruto whirled at the voice, hands already flying through seals. "_**Doton: Doryūheki!**_"

"_**Raiton: Gian.**_"

"Son of a – !" Lightning burst through his hastily erected earthen wall, forcing the blonde to shield his face as shards of hardened dirt exploded towards him.

Kakuzu grunted disapprovingly. "You chose the wrong counter."

Naruto glowered at his teacher. "Earth was the best bet. The only thing it wouldn't stop was lightning."

"True. Yet because I knew what you were going to do, I attacked appropriately. Predictability kills."

The blonde didn't respond, instead spreading his awareness to his surroundings. "Couldn't you have kept him busy!?" he shouted as Fū flew back into his line of sight.

"Tried that!" she returned, twisting in midair with her hands held at her sternum. A small pyramid was forming in her hands, the square base facing her with the tip pointing towards the thread-creature zooming in on her position. She released the shape, but the mass that was Kakuzu's wind heart zipped around the assault, forcing Fū to release her wings and drop to the ground to avoid it barreling into her. "Didn't work out too well."

"Clearly." He stared at Kakuzu, who returned the gaze evenly, arms held behind his back. _Why hasn't he done anything yet? And why are his arms…_ _Shit!_ He jumped aside to avoid Kakuzu's hand as it burst forth from the ground, threads pulsing with one of the man's hearts.

Despite the belated awareness of what Kakuzu was doing, Naruto managed to completely evade the black tendrils of _**Jiongu**_. He had an instant to be proud of this accomplishment before Kakuzu's fingers clasped around Fū's ankle. The realization that he hadn't even been the thread-user's main target was further proven when Kakuzu stated, "You should enjoy Hidan's company," and flung her away. Fū managed to right herself in midair by sprouting the Nanabi's wings again, but Hidan came plunging out of the sky with a mad cackle, scythe's tips angled to impale her. The green-haired girl dodged, but she was blown away by a blast of air from Kakuzu's returning thread-creature. Naruto almost called out to his companion, but then decided he had more pressing issues to deal with and turned to face Kakuzu. "A wise decision," commented the mercenary. "Now come."

_That_ was a familiar statement. Naruto had honestly lost track of how many times Kakuzu had uttered those words – the taunting beckon, not the half-praise regarding his decision – over the past two years. And what a time it had been.

Two years ago, Naruto honestly would never have expected any sort of assistance from his wayward teacher; they had, for all intents and purposes, gone different ways following Hidan's recruitment to Akatsuki. Kakuzu was Naruto's past, and while he would always have a role in the younger male's life, the black and white of it was that the two were on different sides of the fence (ignoring the fact that Naruto was working for Akatsuki, of course). Even disregarding that, Kakuzu's rather indirect teaching methodology and his words about Naruto learning to control _**Jiongu**_ on his own had pretty much guaranteed that Naruto would be forced to teach himself to get stronger.

Yet here they were, traversing the area far west of the Earth and Wind Countries, currently in Demon Country, with Kakuzu (and a rather reluctant Hidan) training him to be as strong as he could be.

Naruto wasn't sure what brought about the sudden about-face in Kakuzu's attitude towards his training, and the one time he'd mentioned it – not long after their departure from Otogakure – Kakuzu had remained tight-lipped. Knowing his mentor's personality, Naruto hadn't asked again; if the former Taki-nin didn't want to reveal anything, there was nothing the blonde could do to make him spill. So he had taken everything in stride, trusting in the fact that Kakuzu wouldn't steer them wrong.

It was apt to say that Kakuzu definitely knew what he was doing. Unfortunately, the man's hands-on approach to training was brutal. There was time to rest and eat, because the necessities kept all shinobi aware and in peak condition, but most of the other remaining time was spent practicing.

The things that the two Jinchūriki learned, though…Naruto almost couldn't believe how much information Kakuzu had at his disposal.

Fū's reservoir of _**Doton**_ techniques had increased to include every earth-related jutsu Kakuzu had learned in his 92 years of life. While her aptitude for pure wind manipulation had remained a bit lackluster, her collection of personal Dust Release techniques had expanded to compensate. Even more impressive was the self-taught manner in which she had learned the true version of _**Jinton**_, and had proceeded to begin integrating the atomizing power of the Nanabi into her dust jutsu. It was a taxing effort, given the amount of shape manipulation required for the actual _**Jinton**_, and removing that aspect while keeping the same overall effect and incorporating it into her modified dust techniques was apparently ridiculously difficult.

Beyond that, Kakuzu had pushed her into drawing on the Bijū's chakra, little by little, until she could utilize the Nanabi's chakra cloak up to five tails – without asking for the beetle's assistance – or materialize two solid tails as wings to fly. According to Fū, the Seven-Tails had been surprisingly helpful during the training, answering any questions she had about its chakra and what her limits were.

Naruto wished the Kyūbi was as amicable, but he had undergone his own intense training regimen even without the Bijū's assistance.

Kakuzu had rescinded his idea to let Naruto learn the intricacies of _**Jiongu**_ on his own, instead tutoring the boy in how to bring out the kinjutsu's full strength. His body had paid the price for such power, obtaining long sutures across his chest, back, and at intervals along his arms, but the benefits far outweighed the costs. Naruto could now access the long-armed form that Kakuzu admitted to defaulting to after losing two hearts, as well as the long-range form his mentor had died in, albeit on a smaller scale. On top of that, Kakuzu had told him how to extrude his hearts into masked creatures capable of autonomous destruction.

That, Naruto thought, was perhaps the best part, especially since he'd finally claimed all five affinities at Kakuzu's behest. He'd grasped _**Raiton**_ relatively easily, finding the element as easy to call upon as his _**Suiton**_ ninjutsu – which was strange, he considered, given his body's natural inclination towards _**Fūton**_ – but learning _**Katon**_ had been as big a struggle as _**Doton**_. Despite the difficulties, he'd become well-rounded in each of the nature manipulations with Kakuzu's guidance, and his kinjutsu's autonomy meant that he could, say, call upon his fire heart to attack for him without worrying about collecting the chakra in his chest perfectly for exhalation into actual fire attacks.

The bounty hunter had even given him some taijutsu lessons to complement the unique body structure granted to him by _**Jiongu**_, but had made sure to emphasize that with his chakra capacity, ninjutsu was his ace-in-the-hole to a fight (Naruto's interpretation, not Kakuzu's exact words).

Of course, all of that had been the comparatively easy part. The true challenge had been using the new skills in practice.

And Kakuzu was apparently under the belief that dangerous situations bred more impulse and creativity, as Naruto and Fū were forced to repeatedly spar against him and Hidan.

Naruto wasn't exactly sure where his and Fū's skill levels were with respect to the worldwide listing of shinobi classes, but he did know that Kakuzu and Hidan fully deserved their labels of S-class. Hidan, rather surprisingly, had more moves than just swinging his scythe around seemingly aimlessly and screaming like a banshee, though using them didn't give him as much pleasure as the close combat method of fighting did.

As for Kakuzu…well, his teacher was, quite simply, a _beast_.

The revelation wasn't exactly a new one. Certainly, Naruto had been aware of Kakuzu's skills for years, the knowledge of what the mercenary was capable of always in the back of his mind. But knowing of it and living it every day for two years was a _huge_ difference. Fighting with Kakuzu day in and day out, the blonde wasn't even sure how he had been killed by the Konoha ANBU, outnumbered or not; the man was just that ridiculously powerful.

And he liked to prove it. Both thread-users ran through seals, masks popping up on their shoulders with elemental techniques prepared. "_**Katon: Zukkoku.**_"

"_**Suiton: Suijinheki.**_"

Kakuzu hummed thoughtfully as the attacks clashed and cancelled each other out. "Your intuitiveness has improved."

"That almost sounded like a compliment," Naruto jested. "Did I earn the right to learn it yet?"

Kakuzu's deadpan stare was his only response. Naruto gave an internal sigh of resigned acceptance.

There were only two things Kakuzu had absolutely _refused_ to teach him. One was the secret to creating and manipulating hardened water, which Naruto was okay with not learning given his original affinity for attacking with air.

The other was the collection of ultimate techniques the former Taki-nin had created for each of the elemental chakra natures: _**Raiton: Gian**_, _**Katon: Zukkoku**_, _**Fūton: Atsugai**_, and some water one that Naruto had never seen, but had been assured was equally as powerful. _**Doton: Domu**_, apparently, was a technique that had been recreated from an existing earth jutsu, and not something that Kakuzu kept closely guarded.

When the blonde had originally asked about learning Wind Release: Pressure Damage – wind was still his go-to element of choice – Kakuzu had merely replied in the negative and stated that he would have to come up with his own ultimate techniques. He had been disappointed, but then excited at the prospect.

Inspiration so far had been slim, but Naruto retained hope for the future.

"I admit that you have come a fair way," Kakuzu intoned, "but considering where you started, such a feat is not as impressive as it sounds."

Naruto stopped the scowl from spreading over his features. As Kakuzu had dedicated his time to teaching him, and as Naruto had grown both physically and mentally, the blonde had learned to choose his battles with the taller man with greater care. They still bantered back and forth, trading flat insults and deadpan ripostes – the verbal sparring was practically a given with their relationship – but much of the anger and antagonism Naruto had heard in their past exchanges had dissipated. Kakuzu's putdowns, he noticed, carried far less venom than he had thought when he was younger. "Ah, so you admit I've made improvements," quipped the teenager.

He could practically imagine Kakuzu rolling his eyes in muted aggravation. "If you consider yourself so improved," Kakuzu stated, "then perhaps you should show me your skill with _**Jiongu**_."

The blonde couldn't repress the shudder that ran down his spine of its own accord. Every time he had tried utilizing the kinjutsu's power against his teacher – whether by summoning the thread-creatures or by using one of its forms – Kakuzu had proceeded to beat him down even more viciously than usual, normally by using his control over the threads to do so. Naruto thought that it was perhaps the former Taki-nin's nonverbal method of communicating that even if the blonde had a new trick up his sleeve, Kakuzu was still the superior shinobi. "Yeah, I think I'll pass," he commented, forming seals. "_**Raiton: Jibashi**_."

Kakuzu watched the incoming wave of electricity with his usual disinterest. Before he could decide how to counter the attack, Pein's voice sounded in his head. _[Kakuzu, Hidan, it is time to perform the sealing of the Sanbi and the Yonbi. It will take six days total to do both. After the ceremony is over, you will return to your usual assignments]_

"Understood," Kakuzu replied, relishing in Naruto's look of surprise as his wind heart returned from behind him and negated the Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder. "Your beatdown will have to wait, brat," he directed towards his pupil. "It seems that Hidan and I have been recalled to our duties."

Naruto schooled his features and nodded, following Kakuzu as the old nukenin went to track down Hidan. As they trudged through the greenery of Demon Country, Naruto thought back to everything that he owed his mentor. "Hey," he mentioned quietly, watching as the former Taki-nin's shoulders shifted to indicate he was listening, "thanks…for doing all this. I know it's not really your style, but I really appreciate it."

Kakuzu remained silent, not that Naruto had expected anything else. The man had never really been one for gratitude or other emotional platitudes. So when they reached an open area where Hidan and Fū were dodging one another's attacks, Naruto was surprised to hear Kakuzu start talking. "The shinobi world is a dangerous place. Most ninja do not often get to experience the hardships of old age, as they are often cut down either in or shortly past their prime. Jinchūriki are statistically less likely to reach such an age, given the propensity for nations to use them as weapons in war." He paused, considered his words, then continued, "It has been decided that you deserve the opportunity to break from that cycle…and as I am likely one of the oldest active shinobi in existence, if not to have ever existed, it would be remiss of me to not grant you every possible advantage.

"All you can do now…is endure. Endure until the time when you lack the fortitude to continue on." He glanced at the blonde boy. "At that point, I would come kill you myself. I would expect you to have quite the bounty on your head." His piece said, Kakuzu turned his green eyes to settle on Hidan. "Hidan, you heard Leader," he addressed the Jashinist. "It is time for us to depart from the children."

"Tch, and just when it was getting interesting, too."

As Kakuzu and Hidan began to walk into a more sheltered area of Demon Country, the bounty hunter tossed one last tidbit of advice at his disciple. "Naruto…always remain aware of your surroundings." And then the duo was gone.

Fū walked up to him as Naruto mentally interpreted Kakuzu's parting words. _Akatsuki is on the move again. Be prepared for any eventuality. You are still a target._

_Message received, Kakuzu,_ he thought. "So," he said, turning to Fū, "where do we go now?" The green-haired girl didn't respond, instead keeping her gaze focused on the ground, a pensive expression decorating her features. Naruto quirked an eyebrow. "Fū?"

She looked up at him, orange eyes filled with resolve. "I think it's time we split up," she announced.

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"We should go our own ways," she reiterated, voice growing more determined. Naruto got the distinct impression that she had given this idea much thought. "Akatsuki's going to eventually come after us. It's better if we're separate so that capturing both of us is more difficult, and they won't be able to find out where the other is if they do get one of us."

Naruto opened his mouth to object, to say that sticking together gave them a better chance for survival, but then closed it when he realized nothing he said was going to make a difference. Fū clearly wasn't going to back down. "Fine," he agreed, "we split up from here." A sudden idea springing forth, he reached into his pocket and grabbed the scroll used to contain corpses. "Here," he said, tossing the object to his companion.

Fū caught it with a questioning look. "Don't you want this?"

The blonde's mouth broke into a wide grin. "Oh, I'm not going to need that for what I'm going to do. You take it and continue to collect money…I have a different goal in mind."

"…Alright."

When Fū continued to stare at him unsurely, Naruto raised an eyebrow again. "Something else?"

"I…" she started, taking a measured step forward. The space between them was minimal, and Naruto found his bubble of personal space distinctly encroached upon. "You saved me from a horrible life a long time ago –"

"This isn't exactly the lap of luxury, you know."

"— and I really appreciate that. I don't know what my life would be like if you hadn't come to Taki and rescued me…hell, I might've been killed by Akatsuki by now…and I just…" She broke off, and Naruto opened his mouth to prompt her to continue, but she didn't give him the chance, closing the gap between them and kissing him soundly.

Blue eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected contact. Before he could even really comprehend the situation, Fū disconnected their lips and took a step backwards. Naruto met her orange eyes wordlessly as the female Jinchūriki whispered, "Thank you," and then disappeared in a swirl of dust.

-l-l-l-

Naruto would admit to being unbelievably confused. His best friend had kissed him not two days ago and then left him to go off on her own adventure. For all he knew, he might never see Fū again.

Given that he had never before encountered such a convoluted situation, his perturbation was rather unsurprising, even understandable.

Now he at least had an explanation for some of the stranger expressions and actions that Fū had often graced him with. Not that he knew what to do with this new information…

He was 16 now, and far more aware of the opposite gender than he had been two years ago. Given, that wasn't saying much since his lifestyle left little room for personal interaction with anyone, let alone females, but Fū had always remained a constant in his life. It would be a lie to say that he hadn't considered his fellow Jinchūriki attractive, but with the main focus of his attention on Kakuzu's training regimen, the blonde had merely written off such thoughts as fleeting fancies.

That, apparently, had been a mistake.

Fū possessed a certain appeal that Naruto found entreating. She was lithe and slender for her almost 17 years of age, with only an inch of height over Naruto's growing 5'5" frame. Despite Kakuzu's comments on how she still looked like a 12-year-old boy, Fū still retained an unknown quality that Naruto discerned as alluring.

Perhaps it was the fact that there wasn't really room for romance on the road, and puberty had caused him to latch on to the nearest female form. Or maybe it was that Fū was a Jinchūriki who had experienced much of the life Naruto had while working with Kakuzu, and thus knew of the dangers associated with the road ahead of them. Plus, it was unlikely that many people would want to be romantically involved with a demon container when – Naruto refused to think _if_ – he could finally settle down somewhere. There were too many similarities between his and Fū's personalities and pasts to not make them an ideal pairing.

Of course, none of that actually meant that the blonde knew how to react to Fū kissing him. Especially since she hadn't really given him time to try discussing with her _what_ _the hell she was thinking._ "Women," he muttered, abandoning the slog-ridden marshes of Demon Country for the craggy wasteland of Earth Country. Why did they have to be so damn confusing?

_**YOU WILL NOT BE HAVING PROGENY WITH HER.**_

…_Wonderful,_ Naruto thought irately. The Kyūbi was deciding to make its opinion known; like he needed a bigger headache. "And why not?" he asked, not even considering the implications of arguing against such a statement.

_**I REFUSE TO ALLOW ANY VESSEL OF MINE TO PROCREATE WITH ANYONE TAINTED BY THAT INFERNAL BUTTERFLY.**_

"But if I was interested in a Jinchūriki 'tainted' by any of the other Bijū, you'd be okay with it?"

…_**I WILL FIND A WAY TO DESTROY YOU.**_

Naruto smirked to himself. _And the point goes to me._ "Besides," he mentioned, "I'm 16. This is hardly the time to be considering…reproduction."

The fox snorted. _**YOU HUMANS ARE ALL THE SAME. YOU PARTAKE IN PLEASURES OF THE FLESH AND LOSE SIGHT OF EVERYTHING ELSE. ONE BAT OF HER EYES AND YOU'LL HAVE NO OTHER THOUGHTS BUT OF RAVISHING HER.**_

The teenager opened and closed his mouth wordlessly, trying to banish the images the Kyūbi's words had conjured in his mind. "J-just…shut up."

Laughter echoed in his mind, the fox clearly finding amusement in one-upping its jailor. _**YOUR INADEQUACY REGARDING A CONCEPT SUCH AS INTERCOURSE IS HIGHLY AMUSING.**_

Naruto shook his head in an effort to ignore the Bijū. There was no point dwelling on something that he couldn't do anything about right now anyway. Fū was off doing a solo bounty hunting adventure, leaving him with a jumble of confused thoughts and emotions regarding her.

And his own goal.

Now that he was well-trained in the ways of _**Jiongu**_ and capable of utilizing all the different elements, the blonde felt confident enough to start exacting his vengeance upon the Hidden Leaf.

It was going to be fun.

Naruto jumped behind a rocky outcropping as several chakra signatures became apparent, reducing his own as low as he could go. Shortly after, a group of eight Iwa-nin came to a stop not too far from his position. "Which way?" asked one of them.

Another one took a moment to close his eyes and focus on his surroundings. Naruto melded into the ground, as if such a method would help prevent him from being sensed. Luckily, it seemed as if the group had a specific target in mind and the blonde found himself going unnoticed. "Over there," the ninja stated after a moment.

"Let's move. Akatsuki already has a head start on us, and we can't let them take Rōshi like they took Han. Iwagakure needs a Jinchūriki to match the might of the other Hidden Villages."

Naruto rose from the earth, ears pricked as the squad of Hidden Rock shinobi moved out. _Someone's gonna have some company real soon._ A giant grin stretched across his face as a thought occurred to him. "Oh, Pein is _so_ going to owe me for this," he snickered. He bounded after the octet, extruding his earth heart and commanding the creature to go on ahead of him. The mass of threads immediately burrowed underground to cut off the shinobi per Naruto's instructions.

Several minutes later, the blonde heard his quarry shouting in surprise as a massive stone wall rose in their path. "Gentlemen," he announced, drawing their attention as he alit on a crag and used chakra to glue himself to the slanted surface, "I'm sorry to inform you that your journey is for naught." He paused, cupping his chin thoughtfully. "Actually, I stand corrected." A wicked gleam shone in his blue eyes. "I'm not really all that sorry."

"It's just a kid," observed one of the shinobi.

"Hey kid, if you don't leave now we'll be forced to take you out," another one informed him.

Naruto stared at them blankly. "…Man, death threats just roll right off you idiots." He massaged his forehead with the fingers on own hand and shook his head sadly, muted chuckles escaping his lips. "Great, now I sound like Kakuzu. Arrogance and insults all in one."

"Don't say we didn't warn you, kid." The man who Naruto assumed was captain addressed the rest of his squadron. "Finish this quickly."

"Oh, I will," Naruto assured them. Jaws of earth erupted from the ground and clamped down on one of the shinobi while all attention remained on the teenager, Naruto's earth heart directing the soil from underneath the surface. When the remaining men turned at their comrade's scream, the Jinchūriki propelled himself forward in a burst of wind, the _**Fūton: Senpūken**_ swirling around his right arm. He slammed his fist into the leftmost ninja's abdomen, shredding organs and sending blood flying outward in a spray of red. "You were saying?" he mocked as the corpse of the second Iwa-nin hit the ground.

Slabs of rock rose from the ground and attempted to crush him, but a quick _**Kawarimi**_ with some loose stone allowed him to avoid the assault. Naruto tutted disapprovingly at the remaining Iwa-nin. "Well now, that won't do at all," he said. In moments, he was in _**Jiongu**_'s long-armed form, his lightning and fire masks situated in the spread of threads at his back. "Much better," he hissed sadistically through the tongue of threads sprouting from his mouth.

Soon, there was nothing left in the area but a bunch of corpses. "Well, that was fun," he commented, allowing his body to come back together and the earth heart to return to its place on his back. He turned his head to face southeast. "Time for the real trials to begin."

With that, he took off in the direction of Fire Country.

-l-l-l-

"Hey Naruto."

"Gah!"

Surprised by the appearance of a small green chameleon on his shoulder, the boy was caught off-guard as a massive purple projectile flew at him. Instinctively, he leaned backwards to avoid the object, but combined with the shock of the reptile's sudden arrival, lost his footing in the liquid his feet were entrenched in and fell on his back. The reptile moved a bit higher on Naruto's shoulder to avoid getting ensnared by the liquid. "You don't seem to be very good at this."

"Kamesata," spluttered the blonde, "what are you – how are you –"

"Ojii-san wants to speak with you," the chameleon informed him.

"What, _now_? I'm a little busy here!"

Kamesata's eyes roved around the forested area. "So I see." Then his right eye focused on Naruto's face. "Hurry it up."

Naruto resisted the urge to snatch the diminutive creature up and strangle him. He had been living in the forests of Fire Country for about a month, picking off any team of Konohagakure shinobi that crossed his path. The bounties on their heads were irrelevant (though Kakuzu probably would've had a series of heart attacks if he knew that); Naruto was more focused on depleting the village's forces and punishing it for its citizens' scorn in the early years of his life.

And the taste of vengeance was like honey.

Unfortunately, his most recent targets were proving to be more…annoying…than the others he'd come across up to that point. Two of the four Chūnin had gone down easily enough, but the remaining two worked well in tandem and had manipulated the terrain to their advantage. One of them – a brunette with long bangs covering his right eye – had spat some weird _**Suiton **_ninjutsu over Naruto's feet which possessed the viscosity of syrup and made moving highly inconvenient. His partner – a dark-haired male with a weird scar on his chin and a strip of bandage crossing from ear-to-ear over the bridge of his nose – had summoned a giant mace with the vague appearance of a conch shell. He had proven to be surprisingly adept at wielding the monstrosity, though it hadn't proven overly effective given Naruto's use of _**Doton: Domu**_. While he could've unleashed his full power from the get-go and just wasted everyone, he had developed the rather sadistic habit of toying with his victims and enjoyed watching them die one at a time.

The idea that he was acquiring more and more of Kakuzu's quirks was something he accepted with much chagrin.

Naruto lifted an arm out of the viscous fluid, grimacing in disgust as it thickened and held the limb in place. He suddenly regretted never getting a shirt to replace the one that had been ruined shortly after the training trip with Kakuzu and Hidan had begun. It had become pointless to wear one after learning how to extrude the hearts from his body – since the process would rend the garment to shreds, which explained Kakuzu's weird backless top – but he felt highly exposed wearing only the standard ninja pants.

The dark-haired shinobi leapt at him, mace in hand to smash it down on his unmoving body. _Okay, no more screwing around. _The long suture stretching from clavicle to side – a permanent reminder of his fight against the Oto-nin years ago – opened up, allowing a stream of black threads to burst forth and spear towards the Chūnin. He brought his massive weapon forward to absorb the brunt of the attack, allowing the threads to crash harmlessly into the conch's reinforced shell.

That was fine, though…all Naruto needed was a way to stop the man from getting too close so he could have a few seconds to work.

A pulsing mass of threads appeared in the opening in his chest, forming a rough approximation of a mouth. Lightning surged forward as his relocated _**Raiton**_ heart unleashed a massive pillar of electricity. The attack rose high above the tree canopy, a brilliant flash of blue light.

_That's…going to attract attention._

"Kotetsu!" shouted the other man as his comrade was consumed by the attack. When the technique faded away, a blackened corpse fell to into the viscous liquid at Naruto's feet. "You… I'll kill you!"

_Yeah yeah,_ thought the blonde, rolling his eyes, _like I haven't heard _that_ before._ It was slightly unfortunate that he couldn't actually see what was happening as he was stuck, but he supposed it didn't really matter. In a matter of seconds, the lightning heart had replaced his wind heart as his body's primary one, allowing the latter to emerge from the hole in his chest as a roughly bird-shaped amalgamation of threads. The thread-creature opened its approximation of a beak and expelled a rush of slicing wind that carved into the charging Konoha-nin.

He collapsed to the ground, bloody gashes covering his entire body.

As the threads returned to his body and his hearts resituated themselves, Naruto let out a brief huff. "Well, that was tedious." He shifted his attention to Kamesata, who had remained silent throughout the battle. "Now, what do you want?"

The chameleon released a noise of annoyance. "I told you already, Ojii-san wants to talk to you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Does it matter?" retorted the reptile. The Jinchūriki glared at his summon; despite being in charge of the contract, he didn't necessarily command the respect of all the chameleons. He wasn't sure if Kamesata fell under that category, or if he just liked being contrary for its own sake.

Regardless, he still had a problem. "Yeah, well, I'm a bit stuck at the moment. Can you give me a minute to get out of here?" _Before the ANBU show up?_ he added mentally.

"Don't worry about it." Naruto was about to ask what the reptile meant when Kamesata stood on his hind legs and began forming what the blonde could only assume was hand signs. Before he could comment on the absurdity of the chameleon performing the signs, let alone trying to pull off a jutsu, he disappeared.

When the ANBU showed up 20 minutes later, all they found was a pool of viscous liquid and the bodies of four of their Chūnin.

Meanwhile, Naruto found himself in the midst of a myriad of trees, all varieties of types known to grow in the rainforest. However, instead of a dense canopy of green, the Jinchūriki was surprised to see that the foliage was a plethora of hues. In fact…the leaves seemed to be _shifting_ colors, changing from red to orange to green to purple, and every shade in between. So mesmerized by the unusual sight, he almost missed Kamesata saying, "This is the Bankakyu Forest. C'mon, Ojii-san is this way."

"Yeah…right," he replied detachedly. He was still too busy admiring his surroundings to pay more than a cursory glance to where the messenger chameleon was directing him.

Eventually they arrived at a gigantic stone temple, shaded by equally large trees. Kamesata led Naruto inside as the blonde looked around the building, awestruck. A grating voice brought him from his thoughts. "WELCOME TO OUR ABODE, UZUMAKI NARUTO. HMM…YOU SEEM TO HAVE COME FROM SOME SORT OF BATH."

Naruto looked down at himself, grimacing at the goopy liquid stuck to and dripping off his body, as well as his half-naked appearance. "Ah, my apologies, Shiromari-sama. I was…preoccupied when Kamesata found me."

The Chameleon Boss chuckled. "NO APOLOGIES ARE NECESSARY. THE FAULT OF THE TIMING LIES WITH ME."

Naruto inclined his head in a sign of humble acceptance. It was one thing to be rude to Kakuzu, who deserved Naruto's snide remarks and often seemed to thrive on the blonde's feistiness; it was quite another to be ungracious to a creature who could literally squash him like a bug, especially after how helpful his tribe had been on Naruto's journeys. "If you say so, Shiromari-sama. May I ask why I've been summoned to your home?"

"YES, TO BUSINESS. MANY DECADES AGO, THE KUBISAKI CLAN RULED THE NECK COUNTRY BY WAY OF ITS CONTRACT WITH MY FAMILY. BECAUSE OF THE CLOSENESS BETWEEN THE KUBISAKI CLAN AND THE CHAMELEONS, WHENEVER THEY HAD A NEW LEADER, HE WAS SUMMONED TO THE BANKAKYU FOREST TO LEARN SOME OF THE SECRETS OF OUR TRIBE. I HAVE DECIDED THAT IT IS TIME TO EXTEND YOU, OUR NEW SUMMONER, THE SAME OPPORTUNITY.

"ARE YOU INTERESTED IN LEARNING THE TECHNIQUES OF THE CHAMELEONS, UZUMAKI NARUTO?"

The blonde merely grinned in response.

-l-l-l-

Danzō slammed his fist on his desk in frustration. He had lost count of how many reports had been delivered to him with the same general message.

Another team of Konoha-nin had been found within the borders of Fire Country, dead.

The deaths of shinobi were not exactly an uncommon occurrence, but it was strange to have so many of them occur while in friendly territory and not during wartime. Most of the teams were squadrons of Chūnin or the occasional Jōnin-led teams of Genin, but one or two times he had lost a well-trained group of Tokubetsu Jōnin or higher-level ninja sent out on solo missions.

Danzō didn't really mourn the loss of those people – shinobi were tools to serve their leader, after all – but it was getting rather aggravating to have to act more cautious with his mission assignments. As there was no real pattern to the attacks with regards to direction, he couldn't determine if the situation was caused by one of the other nations trying to create a weak point in Konoha's defenses, or someone else's personal vendetta.

Lack of follow-up attacks on Konoha directly and reports from Tenzō suggested the latter.

The loss of the score of ANBU he had dispatched two and a half years ago had been documented in a letter by Tenzō, who had stumbled upon the scene after getting a fix on the Kyūbi's chakra. Though he couldn't say for certain whether or not the Jinchūriki had been responsible for the carnage, the wood-user had claimed that many of the corpses littered about the area bore signs of being torn asunder by animalistic claws. The fact that the blonde boy could eliminate an entire platoon of ANBU – one containing Hatake Kakashi, who was a well-known and feared figure throughout the shinobi world – was worrisome, and seemed unlikely unless one took into account his tapping into the Kyūbi's power, something Tenzō could confirm.

If Tenzō was a regular ANBU, Danzō would've been concerned about the likelihood of him capturing the Kyūbi Jinchūriki. However, Danzō was counting on the wood-user's ability to nullify the Bijū's chakra once activated, which would exhaust the Jinchūriki in the process and make him susceptible to acquisition.

Of course, that required Tenzō to actually _find_ the boy, and while he had traced multiple uprisings of demonic chakra over the time succeeding the ANBU massacre, every clue ended in a dead end. It spoke of quite a high skill in the prey's tracking and evading abilities to so continuously elude the ANBU member.

Assuming the Jinchūriki's involvement in the killings of the Leaf shinobi, it also offered an explanation as to why so many of the more recent attacks seemed to occur without any of the Konoha-nin aware of being assaulted until it was too late. It was almost as if the attacker was using an impressive cloaking technique, like _**Meisaigakure no Jutsu**_, only close to a level that hadn't been seen since the days of the Nidaime Tsuchikage.

Danzō scowled at that thought. If the Kyūbi Jinchūriki truly was behind these recent attacks, then his skills were beyond what even Tenzō had informed him of from their limited confrontations. That was problematic, and left the Hokage with very little options. He could either wait for the boy to screw up in some measure, or…

"Ome," Danzō uttered, and an adolescent male with long, dark hair and a bird's mask appeared before him, one fist to the ground and head bowed in respect. "There is a ninja or group of ninja targeting shinobi of the Leaf. Find them and, if possible, bring them here. Otherwise, dispose of them."

"As you command, Danzō-sama," said the shinobi, and then he was gone.

Danzō smirked slightly. It probably wasn't advisable to send a single shinobi out on a mission to incapacitate someone who was likely to target him, but that was the genius of sending Ome. Whatever evasive abilities the shinobi killing his tools was using wouldn't work against his ROOT member.

Jinchūriki or not, Ome would disable the Leaf's enemy before he knew what had happened to him.

-l-l-l-

Naruto couldn't resist the excited grin that spread across his face at the sound of somebody rushing through the woods. He was crouched at the juncture between a tree's low-hanging bough and trunk, cloaked in _**Meisaigakure no Jutsu**_.

Things were just way too easy now.

His training with the chameleons had gone well enough. Most of their techniques held a basis in their ability to change forms at will, such as Shiromari's long-term tenure as the Kubisaki Castle. They were also very adept with genjutsu and other illusion-related tricks, such as their infamous ability to camouflage seamlessly into their surroundings.

As a less-than-proficient genjutsu caster, Naruto held very little interest in any of the techniques related to that field his summons were willing to teach him. He had informed them so in as polite a manner as possible, which had elicited a rumbling laugh from the Chameleon Boss. They had bypassed any of the illusionary and transformation jutsu and gone straight to the other traits the chameleons were well-known for: elongating the tongue, focusing the eyes on two separate points…

But the trick to learning camouflage had definitely been the most useful, and despite its partial basis in genjutsu, Naruto had insisted on learning it.

_**Meisaigakure no Jutsu **_normally involved using chakra to alter how light was reflected around the body, simultaneously erasing the user's scent and shadow to further make him even harder to detect. However, the chameleons' version of the Hiding with Camouflage Technique was rather different. It required the user to shroud himself in natural energy – something Naruto had never even heard of before – in order to blend seamlessly with his environment. The technique retained all the positives of the original jutsu with the added benefit of being even _more_ difficult to detect because the chakra being used to cloak the individual didn't actually belong to the user and matched the environment the user was hiding in.

The ease with which it had allowed him to sneak up on the unsuspecting Konoha-nin and kill them without them being any the wiser was absolutely ridiculous.

A Konoha-nin wearing an ANBU mask and a cream-colored cloak landed on the ground almost directly beneath Naruto; by the way the shinobi moved, the Jinchūriki guessed his adversary to be male. The blonde flexed his fingers in anticipation as the man beneath him twisted his head to observe his surroundings. _**Jiongu**_ squirmed beneath his skin, itching for the opportunity to wriggle into a body and pierce, strangle, rip, until there was nothing left but a corpse. Naruto leapt from the tree, silent as a wraith, and descended upon the unknowing man.

Ten feet away, the ANBU whipped around, palm thrusting out. Something invisible slammed into Naruto with deadly precision, immediately stopping his heart and causing him to fall to the ground in a boneless heap, the Hiding with Camouflage Technique fading. As Naruto's body assimilated his earth heart, his mind whirled with disbelief at how he had been found out.

"_**Hakke Kūshō**_," intoned a voice, and Naruto instinctively hardened his skin to protect himself as another invisible force blew his body backwards. "You might as well get up," continued the ANBU, "I can see that your chakra system is still active."

Naruto rose to his feet, brushing a hand through his blonde locks to dislodge any dirt. "Can you now? Quite an interesting trick. Considering that and your _**Hakke**_ technique, you must be a Hyūga." He flexed his hands. "Haven't gotten into a fight with one of your kind for some time."

"I'm not sure how you survived that strike to your heart, but rest assured it won't happen again." He raced forward, palm extended in a Gentle Fist strike for Naruto's heart. The renegade twisted around the blow, unleashing a flurry of threads to bind the Konoha-nin and reap his heart. Just as the tendrils wound about the ANBU's body, he became aglow in a shroud of chakra. "_**Jūkenpō Ichigekishin**_," he stated, and the kinjutsu was forcibly repelled from its target. The ANBU member jumped away from Naruto, and for a moment there was silence until he hissed, "It _is_ you_…_"

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"I suspected…" Whatever had caused the ANBU's break in control was lost in the next instant, his voice returned to its flat tone. "Danzō-sama desires you captured alive, but if you resist, your body will be enough compensation."

"I feel like I'm missing something," Naruto pondered, tapping a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "You seem to know me…why don't you reciprocate by removing the mask?" The ANBU dove forward with another series of Gentle Fist maneuvers, though he seemed a bit more hostile with his attacks this time, forcing the blonde to practically dance to avoid the strikes. "I'll take that as a 'no'…"

Performing a quick _**Kawarimi**_, he watched from a tree branch as the Hyūga's palm thrust demolished the replacement log into splinters. "You seem angry," he observed. The ANBU tilted his head up and sent two more chakra-laced, compressed air bullets at him. "Most unbefitting of an ANBU," he noted, swinging down to dodge the attacks. _Curiosity killed the cat,_ he thought, hands moving through seals, _but I've really gotta know…_

"_**Suiton: Haran Banshō**_," he announced, water falling from the sky in a torrential downpour. The Hyūga immediately spun himself into a _**Kaiten**_ to repel the deluge, and Naruto used the excess liquid to form several Water Clones to surround his enemy. They lunged for the ANBU as he came out of his rotation, and Naruto snaked his arms into the battle as the Hyūga dealt with the doppelgangers. Despite the Byakugan's near-360 degree vision, the Hyūga couldn't do anything about the hands reaching for his mask without letting his guard down to the clones.

Several palm strikes dispersed the Water Clones, leaving Naruto to face the full brunt as the ANBU's glowering white eyes settled on him. "Hyūga Neji," he realized, recognizing the features of his long-ago Chūnin Exam opponent. Then he laughed. "You're an ANBU now? I guess you became worth something after all!"

"I suspected it was you. Your chakra system is still clouded with those threads, Shinobu of Amegakure…or not," Neji noted, eyes flickering to the slashed Hidden Leaf _hitae-ate _on Naruto's forehead. "Mock me as you will," he informed the blonde before settling into an advanced Gentle Fist stance, "but you're within my field of divination."

Naruto didn't even have time to curse before Neji was upon him. "_**Hakke Hyaku Nijūhachi Shō**_."

The first several blows landed before Naruto regained some semblance of awareness and had the capacity to order _**Jiongu**_ to counterattack. When Neji's fingers lanced forward for the next series of strikes, threads burst forth from the suture on Naruto's chest and wrapped around the Hyūga's wrists before they could connect. "I'm sure you remember these," he smirked. With a quick motion, the tendrils snapped the Konoha-nin's joints, rendering his prized taijutsu style useless.

Neji showed remarkable restraint for having his wrists broken, merely hissing in pain. His body began to glow with chakra again for another Gentle Fist Art One Blow Body, but the mask containing Naruto's lightning heart appeared on his shoulder and fired a burst of electricity which paralyzed the other male. "I believe that's two times you've lost to me now," Naruto mentioned blithely.

The Hyūga didn't respond.

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Your emotional control has gone up since we last met. Not that it matters all that much. Now, I believe you owe me a heart."

"Whatever you hope to gain by continuing this crusade against Konoha will not come to fruition," Neji stated, venom lacing his tone.

The blonde merely laughed in response. "You're a fool. My goals stretch no further than killing the people of your village, which is exactly what I've been doing. There is no deeper purpose. Now, go meet the rest of your comrades." More threads squirmed forth from his chest and dug into Neji's, causing the Hyūga's pale eyes to widen. Moments later, the tendrils withdrew, their pumping prize clutched in their grasp. "Much better," he sighed, depositing the heart in his chest, "though I probably enjoyed that far more than I should have. Kakuzu has _definitely _rubbed off on me." His attention was drawn to the Konoha-nin's corpse as the seal on his forehead glowed green and his eyes were burned from their sockets. "Ah, so that's how the seal activates…interesting."

He lugged the body upon his shoulder and began walking to the nearest bounty exchange station. "Well Hyūga Neji, let's see how much you're really worth."

-l-l-l-

"Name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hair color?"

"Bright yellow."

"Eye color?"

"Blue."

"Other distinguishing features?"

"Three whisker-like markings on either cheek."

"Former village affiliation?"

"Konohagakure."

"Age?"

"16."

"Bounty?"

"70 million."

The man looked up at the large amount and raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment on the price. "Does the shinobi have a _kekkei genkai _or known kinjutsu?"

"…No."

Another raised eyebrow, but the man scribbled down the response. "He will be listed as an A-rank nukenin. Is there any other information you can add?"

"He is adept at _**Fūton**_ ninjutsu."

"…And?" prompted the man when the other person didn't continue.

"That is all the information I have."

"Do you have a picture?" The person shook his head. "Very well," nodded the man. "We will list Uzumaki Naruto in the next edition of the Bingo Book. Thank you for your report."

The Konoha-nin nodded and left. When he was far enough away from the building, the _**Henge**_ around him dropped.

Kakuzu smirked behind his mask. Naruto would raise hell the minute he discovered what the older shinobi had done, but he would eventually come to appreciate the favor Kakuzu had done him. By being listed in the Bingo Book with such a high bounty and such rudimentary skills, he would quickly become the target of both other mercenaries and the Hidden Villages alike. Given that Kakuzu had neglected to give the editors information about _**Jiongu**_, Naruto's Jinchūriki status, or the fact that he could freely control all of the elements, Naruto would quickly start accumulating the bounties of people chasing _him_ instead of the other way around.

Really, it was quite a time-saving and profitable deed he had just done his pupil.

And if Kakuzu got some twisted satisfaction out of pissing the blonde off…well, that was just a bonus.

-l-l-l-

Naruto narrowly dodged a burst of fire and then activated the Earth Spear, bringing his arm up to block a sideways swipe of a Kumo-nin's sword.

Something was wrong. Naruto couldn't decide exactly what that something was, but some strange sixth sense was telling him that the natural order of the world had been violated. Granted, the fact that he was being attacked by a group of shinobi wasn't all that unusual, considering his profession...

But it was strange that the group of Cloud shinobi had _initiated_ the assault…

Especially since he was in Grass Country.

…_This has Kakuzu's fingerprints all over it. I don't know _how_, but every time something bad happens to me, it's normally because of Kakuzu._

He hardened his body again as the first Kumo-nin exhaled another burst of fire at him. The blonde almost smirked as the flames died out, but a gasp escaped his lips instead as a katana crackling with lightning was shoved from behind into his heart. "The dossier said that you were only proficient in _**Fūton**_, but that hardening technique of yours definitely has its roots in _**Doton**_," whispered a voice in his ear. When he fell facedown to the ground, the sword came free with a _schick_, and its wielder stated aloud, "We've disposed of the nukenin Uzumaki Naruto. Our mission is complete."

_Not quite,_ Naruto thought, burrowing his hands underground via _**Jiongu**_. He had been killed enough times over the past several months to know that falling with his hands under his body allowed him to take his enemies by surprise.

When the swordsman knelt to pick him up, Naruto acted. Both hands erupted from the ground in different spots, catching two of the Kumo-nin with uppercuts to the chin. As they were sent flying, the fists opened to grab them each by an ankle. The threads connected to each appendage immediately retracted, bringing both shinobi hurtling towards the earth at an impressive speed. Their heads struck the ground, and then they were motionless.

_Man, that never gets old_, the blonde snickered.

The swordsman, who had turned to his men at the sound of Naruto's fists coming out of the earth, immediately whirled back to the younger boy. _Too late!_ the Jinchūriki crowed mentally. His wind heart burst forth from beneath the traveler's cloak he wore to conceal the masks on his back and fired a bullet of air that punched a hole in the Kumo-nin's chest before he could react.

_And now for number four,_ he thought, rising to his feet and recalling the threads. Just as he finished standing, a series of bluish-white beams slammed into his chest. He was pushed back a fair distance, his cloak gaining several holes as the beams scorched through it and burned his skin. "That's…new," he remarked.

Naruto looked up at the remaining Kumo-nin, finding both of the man's hands clasped together, a halo of the same bluish-white light surrounding them. _An attack that retains some of the piercing abilities of __**Raiton**__, but flows like the water of a __**Suiton**__ technique… I wonder…_

Kakuzu had lectured to him about the different _kekkei genkai_ in the ninja world. The lessons had also included a rundown of some of the advanced chakra natures the bounty hunter had come across in his travels. The rarity of such abilities was one of the reasons Tenzō's possession of the should-be extinct _**Mokuton**_ techniques had taken Naruto completely by surprise. Barring Tenzō, and potentially Fū, the blue-eyed boy had never really come across any of the other advanced chakra natures.

But that strange beam attack definitely seemed to fit Kakuzu's vague description of Kumogakure's rare Storm Release.

Another armada of beams began homing in on his position, forcing the renegade to manipulate the air before him into a dense shield. His blue eyes widened as the attack simply bent around the barrier and converged on his location.

Naruto took the attack and came out with a severely tattered cloak and several more burns for his trouble. Fortunately, while the attack seemed to be quite versatile, it lacked a lot of the raw destructive power of the Lightning Release element that composed it. He raced forward, forcing the Cloud shinobi to release the seal for his technique and bring forth a katana crackling with lightning.

That was fine with Naruto, who immediately held out his right hand and allowed _**Jiongu**_ to twine itself into its Sword Form, glowing blue with wind chakra. Steel met the makeshift black blade, causing the Kumo-nin to grimace as the wind chakra began to bite into his weapon, negating the electricity running along the blade. He reached out with his other hand to shock the blonde into submission, but Naruto met that with a modified Whirlwind Fist. "Ah ah ah," Naruto tutted mockingly, "I'm a wind specialist, remember? Now, would you like to tell me why you attacked me?" When the man didn't respond, Naruto sighed theatrically. "Well, how about that strange ninjutsu you used…what's your secret to that one?"

Again, the blonde was greeted with silence.

"Ah well," he continued, "guess I'll just have to find out for myself." Threads tore through the front of his cloak and dove into his opponent's body, wriggling under the skin and aiming for his heart. Naruto relished in the brief moment of shock on the man's face before the tendrils resurfaced with his heart in their grasp. They returned to the blonde's body, displacing his wind heart to his back and depositing the new one within his ribcage. The spasm of pain that accompanied acquiring a new element shuddered throughout his body, causing Naruto to simultaneously grimace and grin. He felt for the elements the organ was aligned with, feeling the soothing calm of _**Suiton**_ and the fierce prickle of _**Raiton**_. "My thanks to you," he addressed the body of the Kumo-nin, releasing it and letting it fall to the ground.

He flexed his hands, trying to summon some modicum of Kumogakure's _**Ranton**_ bloodline, with no effect. "Huh…this might be trickier than I thought." Then he shrugged. "Oh well, plenty of time to learn. Now let's see…" He knelt down next to the Kumo-nin's corpse and rooted through his belongings, but found nothing of interest. "Hmm, maybe your leader then?" he mused.

Naruto dragged the body over to the one who had stabbed him – the wielder of the Storm Release ability might be worth something at a bounty station, even if Naruto had his heart – and searched his person. He discovered a mission scroll and immediately unraveled it, a frown etching his features as he read it. "Find and kill Uzumaki Naruto and claim the bounty on his head. Bounty?" Then he growled. "_Kakuzu…_ I _know_ it's him. Damn him! What did he do, put me in the Bingo Book?"

He took a deep breath. "Calm down…he probably knew I'd react like this, which is exactly why he did it. I just need to stay on my guard, figure out a plan –" he looked down at his cloak, "— get some new clothes…yeah, let's start there." Naruto sighed, hefted the body of the _**Ranton**_-user on his back, and began walking.

Ten seconds later…

"KAKUZU, YOU STUPID BASTARD! _I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!_"

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Hello all, just a couple of brief points that might arise from this chapter. 1) No, Naruto is not a sage, nor will he become one. Senjutsu involves mixing natural energy with physical and spiritual energy to create a different ratio of chakra. Here, Naruto is merely cloaking himself in natural energy instead of using chakra to activate _**Meisaigakure no Jutsu**_. 2) Naruto did NOT kill Darui, merely another member of his small clan. In here, there's more than one Storm Release user. 3) Tenzō was tracking Fū's usage of the Nanabi's chakra, which is why Kakuzu and the rest kept moving during their training. 4) Because people keep asking, yes, Orochimaru is officially dead. It doesn't really matter all that much, but just for clarity's purpose, there you go. And obviously it was not Neji who died in the previous chapter…though many people did think that. 'Ome' is, best as I can tell, _one_ translation of the word 'eye'.

Also, if you're interested in my writing, there's a poll on my page for the next Naruto story you'd like to see. Descriptions of the stories are on my profile, if you'd like to go vote. I'll leave it up for awhile, until I post the 20th chapter of this story.

To **newboy**: That's an amazing amount of patronage you've left me, and while I'd like to respond to it all, I don't really feel like that's possible. However, I will answer your last question: there will be 20 chapters to this story, plus an epilogue. So…getting close to the end here.

Thanks for all the feedback from the previous chapter (people seemed to like it), and feel free to let me know what you think of this (mostly filler-ish) one! People keep asking why I don't have more reviews, and I can't really give them an answer since I don't control that. Next chapter will be pretty freaking intense…


	18. Competition

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

Pride – in all its forms – was a terrible thing. It made people take risks they wouldn't normally take just to prove a point, spurred people to do things different from their routine simply for the sake of it. Arrogance (and the distinct lack of ability to control his temper, though that was quite beside the point) had gotten Kakuzu killed by the hands of those he looked down upon.

The problem was that pride was generally something that was deserved. At least, it was in Kakuzu's case. After all, surviving in the ninja world for almost a century tended to make a shinobi confident in his abilities. If nothing else, the old bounty hunter had proven time and again that he was certainly capable enough with his skills to back up his arrogance.

Naruto hadn't really gotten the opportunity to defend his pride, especially since his time with Kakuzu had been cut short due to the former Taki-nin's Akatsuki-related responsibilities.

That was why the blonde was crouched on a tree bough – on a cliff of the peninsula that was Bird Country – looking out over the ocean in the direction of Water Country.

_"I would like to see you penetrate Kirigakure's defenses with your measly skills. Considering how difficult it is to get into the country, remain inconspicuous, find and capture the target, and get out without raising suspicion, two months is hardly a long time. I expect you will take at least six your first time."_

Granted, Naruto had been 11 when Kakuzu had said that, but he figured that age hardly made a difference in the nukenin's eyes. He was going to prove to his wayward teacher that he could surpass the expectations Kakuzu had for him, all by doing something that was, arguably, incredibly foolish. It was a little sad that most of his motivation was still derived from trying to get Kakuzu to acknowledge him, especially when the old nukenin was unlikely to do so, but Naruto strove to accomplish the impossible. In a lot of ways, he was like a kid trying to earn the attention of his parent by whatever means necessary.

Pride really was a terrible thing.

Still, the blonde felt that he was ready for such a venture. He thought that he was strong enough to take on the majority of the denizens within the Hidden Mist one-on-one – notable exceptions would include the Mizukage and any remaining members of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen – and had even prepared for the journey accordingly.

Gone were the traveler's cloak and pants he'd been wearing for the past several months. Now, he was dressed in blue pants and a sleeveless, backless grey top. Both aspects of the top were hidden by a second shirt, this one loose and blue-grey in color (to better blend into the mist). It was open in the front and had the right sleeve falling down to the wrist, the left one only going to the elbow. Bandages wound around his left arm from bicep to wrist, and his feet were clad in black shinobi sandals. The slashed Konoha _hitae-ate_ was displayed at a slight angle on his forehead, restraining his wild, blonde spikes. Overall, Naruto thought he looked badass.

The knowledge that Kakuzu would surely criticize him for his strange choice in garb was completely irrelevant.

He flipped through the Bingo Book the older thread-user had bestowed upon him, going to the section relegated for shinobi of the Hidden Mist. His fingers stopped at the page depicting the shinobi he had chosen as his target.

Given how old Kakuzu's tome was (and why the blonde hadn't gotten a new one, he couldn't explain; some modicum of sentiment or symbolism, probably), the boy Naruto was staring at was probably a couple years older than him in current times. In the picture, he looked to be perhaps 11, with shoulder-length brown hair fashioned in such a way that only the golden iris of his right eye was visible. The boy was pale-skinned and rather bored-looking, but to have achieved the status of Jōnin at such a young age implied that he was likely some sort of prodigy.

And Naruto enjoyed a challenge.

Plus, the Kiri-nin was labeled as a bubble-user, which the blonde had never heard of before. He wasn't all that interested in stealing his target's heart – he was still in the process of perfecting how to use Storm Release, though he could at least use it – but the prospect of facing an unknown jutsu was interesting. Killing the strange boy – _adult_, he reminded himself, taking into account the age difference between them and his recently passed 17th birthday – would give him plenty of bragging rights when he eventually ran into Kakuzu again.

The 50 million ryō bounty he would collect didn't hurt either.

Naruto leapt from the tree to the ground and approached the edge of the cliff. He groaned as he began to push threads from his back, carefully so as to not shred his shirt. Soon enough, a massive pair of black wings was situated between his shoulder blades. "Look out, Utakata," he warned, sealing the Bingo Book into a small scroll before storing it in his arm, "I'm coming for you."

He dove off the cliff, and moments later, _**Jiongu**_ carried him high into the sky, where he was lost to the mist.

-l-l-l-

Naruto stepped on the smoldering remnants of his fire and let out a noise somewhere between a sigh and a growl. He had spent the last month camped out on one of the many islands surrounding the main island which housed Kirigakure, slowly exploring the territory that comprised the Water Country, and the dreariness and repetition of the place was starting to grate on his nerves.

If this was what it was like to be on a stake-out for a specific target, Naruto could easily understand why Kakuzu had such a hair-thin temper; it had only been four weeks, and his patience was already gone. Decades of having gone through the same motions had probably diminished Kakuzu's ability to tolerate annoyances to nothing.

It was a little disheartening to discover that he was actually starting to empathize with his wayward teacher, but the young thread-user tried not to dwell on that realization.

"Well, time to get going…_again_," the blonde muttered. He walked down to the shore and carefully stepped out onto the water, making his way toward the Hidden Mist Village.

Although he wasn't a big fan of the reconnaissance required to successfully infiltrate Kirigakure, Naruto was forced to admit that being cautious had definitely prevented him from stepping into a situation that he wasn't prepared for. Taking on a handful of Jōnin-level shinobi he could handle. Facing down scores of Jōnin and _oinin_, the Mist's equivalent of ANBU?

Well, that was a little less likely to have favorable results.

That was the situation he would've been forced to face had he tried to just fly into Kirigakure with _**Jiongu**_. The truth was the Hidden Mist was surprisingly well defended. Even given the haze which seemed a permanent fixture of the country's climate – or perhaps in spite of it – sentry towers littered the ridge of the main island, making approaching it by any means a difficult venture. Given how isolated the entirety of Water Country was, Naruto wondered if such precautions were even necessary.

Then again, when you had as many nukenin as Kirigakure seemed to have, perhaps such paranoia was completely justified.

Regardless, approaching from anything other than the water was impossible. Even doing that had proven to be an extremely risky challenge comprised of water walking atop the ocean, finding some way to get up the cliff face (Naruto had opted to actually use an earth jutsu to just go _through_ the rock), and then melding into the bustle of the village itself. It had taken a week of surveillance to come up with that strategy, after choosing the island closest to the main one to take up temporary residence.

Of course, so far, getting _into_ Kirigakure had been the easy part. Since the natives of Water Country were a relatively isolated people, Naruto hadn't wanted to play the tourist card to dig for information on his target, especially since a civilian would have no need to know about the goings-on of shinobi, let alone a particular one. That had left inconspicuous eavesdropping, independent research, and simple searching maneuvers as his methods of gathering intelligence. The former was relatively easy given the modified _**Meisaigakure no Jutsu**_, but the citizens proved to be rather tight-lipped about anything Naruto might've found useful.

The Mizukage was clearly a very imposing figure if she could keep such a tight grip on the flow of information in her village.

Once eavesdropping had failed to produce anything useful, Naruto had opted into the remaining two methods. It hadn't taken overly long to find out the location of the Mist's bubble-users, though physically finding the building and investigating it had taken a bit longer than the blonde had preferred it would. Disappointingly, Utakata had not been there. In the hope that he could find some clue as to his target's whereabouts, Naruto had spent several consecutive nights infiltrating the mission archives for a hint as to where the man might be.

One night, he had finally gotten lucky and found a mission with Utakata's name listed on it. Unfortunately, he had quickly discovered that the bubble-user _was_ the mission.

Utakata was a nukenin, and had been for a long time.

One of the tiny islands far away from Kirigakure had borne his – admittedly childish – temper tantrum.

Naruto honestly wasn't sure if he was angrier at Kakuzu for having such an out-of-date Bingo Book or at himself for still _using_ the damn thing. Granted, it wasn't the older man's fault that he had clung onto the tome with such lingering attachment (and Kakuzu had at least kept it updated with giant slashes across the pages of his victims), but he still felt rather miffed at the waste of his time.

That thought had given him pause. Utakata was clearly still alive somewhere; he had to be to have a search team sent out relatively recently. If that was the case, he was still an available target, one with a 50 million ryō bounty on his head. Naruto had decided he would rather see his original mission through to the end (Kakuzu would likely never let go of the fact that Naruto had 'abandoned' his target when times got tough, if he found out) than choose a new target from the citizens of the Hidden Mist. Kirigakure wasn't going anywhere; he could always return at a different point in time and kill someone, especially now that he knew the method to get in.

The problem was that Utakata could be _anywhere._ Starting the search from scratch had been an unappealing idea, so Naruto had taken to hiding in the headquarters of the _oinin_ (which had taken a full two days to find) with the Hiding in Camouflage Technique and listening for any promising information.

He was going on five days of no leads, and the lack of any real action was starting to make the threads within his body twitch agitatedly. _Yeah, I get it,_ he griped mentally, crouched beneath an empty desk. _Not like this is a party for me either. But it makes more sense to find some clue as to his whereabouts here, where they're actively searching for him, than roaming the world and hoping to run into him._

Naruto was practically asleep when a man with long black hair and a scar trailing down over his left eye entered the headquarters, a scroll in hand. Four shinobi dropped what they were doing and approached him. "The previous team assigned to capture Utakata has been found."

_Translation: they're dead,_ Naruto thought with morbid amusement.

"Their bodies were discovered near the Tsuchigumo Village," continued the dark-haired male. "We will start our search from there." He affixed the porcelain mask of the Mist's _oinin_ to his face. "Move out."

Naruto mock-saluted the man as the squad left. _Sure thing, boss. Thanks for the info._

He snuck out behind the group of hunter-nin and never looked back.

-l-l-l-

Deciding that stowing aboard whatever vessel the Kiri-nin would use to make it to the mainland was a bit dangerous, Naruto returned to his island as quickly as possible to find a launching point to fly overhead. Even though he now had information on his target, the blonde figured it was easier to let the hunter-nin find Utakata and then swoop in and steal the kill rather than exert the energy wandering aimlessly himself. Besides, the Mist shinobi would have a better idea of Utakata's habits and idiosyncrasies than he did, meaning the tracking part of the retrieval mission would go much more smoothly than if he tried it himself.

It might take some time, but at least he was _doing_ something now.

Compared to how long he thought it might take, the Kiri-nin led him to Tsuchigumo Village – located in the eastern portion of Fire Country – within a handful of days. Apparently they were as eager to find the missing bubble-user as Naruto was, making berth at a port in Bird Country and keeping a rigorous pace across the mainland.

The villagers didn't have much to offer as far as intelligence went when the Kiri-nin questioned them, though one mentioned a rumor that some young shinobi had taken up residence at Mount Katsuragi, the home of the former Tsuchigumo clan leader. When the _oinin_ inquired further as to the location, the villager pointed into the distance, where a tall, rocky structure loomed over the forest.

Naruto opted to follow the lead of the Mist shinobi that evening and settled in for a good night's rest, though far away from their camp. Remaining constantly cloaked under the Hiding in Camouflage Technique in order to evade detection wasn't draining on his chakra, but the unwavering concentration it required to remain active was giving him a headache. To be fully prepared for the upcoming fights against the squad from Mist – which he would have to neutralize – and Utakata, he wanted to be in tiptop shape. With that thought in mind, he summoned a chameleon to watch over him (as a precaution) and then settled down to sleep.

He awoke the next morning to the chameleon's alert that the Kiri-nin were on the move. Thanking the reptile, Naruto took off in the direction of Mount Katsuragi, making sure to sense for the chakra of the Mist squad at regular intervals.

By the time noon rolled around, Naruto had reached the edge of the forest which opened to the mountain. The team from Mist was already approaching the sheer rock, either avoiding or deactivating the seals and traps meant to protect Mount Katsuragi from invaders. Cloaked in _**Meisaigakure no Jutsu**_, Naruto followed them, unsure if the traps were triggered by movement, chakra, or some other mechanism, and unwilling to become a test subject so close to his goal.

It only took a number of minutes to navigate the maze of triggered traps, and by the time the blonde reached the Mist shinobi, they were standing before the cliff face, staring at a man in a blue kimono. Naruto compared the features of the man – dark brown, shoulder-length hair, and gold-colored eyes – to what he remembered from the Bingo Book. His eyes focused on the pale gold pipe tucked into a band mostly hidden by the kimono, right next to a cylindrical green jug. _That looks like it could blow bubbles…_

The leader of the Kiri-nin stepped forward. "Utakata –"

_Score!_

"— you will return with us to Kirigakure. Surrender yourself, or we will be forced to detain you."

_Aaaand, I think that's my cue._ Naruto stepped between Utakata and the squad of hunter-nin, his back to the brunette nukenin. Wordlessly, he dropped the Hiding in Camouflage Technique, taking small delight in the way the shinobi before him started at his appearance. "Gentlemen," he announced, "thank you for your assistance. It would've taken me _forever_ to track this guy down," he added, thumbing behind him to Utakata.

"Konoha missing-nin," he heard one ninja whisper to another.

"We have no quarrel with you," the leader informed him. "Step aside and let us do our duty."

That was enough to galvanize Utakata into action, for he immediately leapt to the side and made for the safety of the forest. "Stop him!" commanded the lead hunter-nin.

The shinobi closest to the nukenin formed a whip of water and sent it towards the brunette, but Naruto jumped over them and released a blade of wind that sliced through the weapon, causing it to lose its cohesiveness. "Ah ah ah," he tutted, "you'll have to get past me if you want to get to him." He bit his thumb and formed seals, slamming his palm on the ground. Kamekoso appeared, now double the size he had been when the blonde had summoned him to kill Kidōmaru's giant spider. Naruto jerked his head behind him. "Follow him." The chameleon immediately became invisible, only a burst of wind announcing his departure.

All the Kiri-nin before him tensed. "You'll regret doing that, child." Naruto bristled a little at the insult – he was a teenager, damn it! – but said nothing. "Konoha-nin…always so cocky. You never should have revealed yourself."

"Well, you're partially right," Naruto allowed. "I am quite cocky." While taking victims by surprise vis-à-vis being invisible was strategically smarter, there was far less satisfaction in witnessing them realize they were outclassed…especially when they were as arrogant as this bunch seemed to be.

Idly, the blonde wondered if having such a mindset was hypocritical, given what he was doing.

On top of that, he didn't want to have to fight Utakata in a location the other male was familiar with. If he had killed all the Kiri-nin before revealing himself, it was far more likely that he would've gotten into conflict with the brunette at the base of the mountain, where there still might be traps (and support from any inhabitants from above). Making himself visible had given the older male an opportunity to escape to the forest, where Naruto would have an advantage, while he handled the hunter-nin.

Water whips lanced out at him from three of the shinobi. Naruto allowed them to wind around his body, surreptitiously extruding his lightning heart from his back, keeping it hidden under his shirt. "Big mistake," he warned, and the threads rose over his head, blue electricity crackling in the mouth of the mask. It danced down the liquid weapons and zapped the trio of Kiri-nin holding them, overloading their neural functions and dropping them like stones. The fourth subordinate sent a wave of electricity at him, which was dispersed by a blast of air. Naruto inhaled and spat out a _**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku**_; the wind bullets punched through the ninja's body, killing him before he hit the ground. "You were saying?"

Though the mask hid the leader's facial expression, Naruto imagined that the man was scowling at him. "Those were good men you killed. They will not have died in vain. _**Hijutsu: Kirisame**_."

Mist shrouded the immediate area, accompanied by a slight drizzle. Naruto watched as the Kiri-nin's form wavered and faded into the haze. "A little rain isn't going to stop me," he informed his surroundings. The blonde summoned wind chakra to his arms, but the fog and rain ate at the chakra until there was nothing left. "…Cute trick," he admitted, "but it won't be enough."

Water suddenly coalesced around him, forming a sphere that halted his movements. The hunter-nin became visible, one hand holding up the Water Prison Technique. "You're immobilized and incapable of using ninjutsu…and overconfident. That was your downfall."

Without warning, black threads burst forth from underneath Naruto's bandaged arm, spearing through the orb of liquid and into the Mist shinobi. It was a testament to the blonde's control over the kinjutsu and practice that the tendrils didn't shred either his clothing or wrappings. The man gagged at the invasive feeling of threads in his body, his construct collapsing and allowing the Jinchūriki to approach him. "Once again, you're only partially right." With a simple mental command, _**Jiongu**_ constricted, crushing the man's heart in an instant. "Well," he mused as the mist surrounding him dissipated, "that was far easier than I expected it to be. I guess I'm getting better at this." He turned to face the direction Utakata had disappeared in. "Now it's time to get the main prize."

The blonde bounded in the direction of the forest, putting a little extra pep in his step in order to make up the time lost killing the hunter-nin. Kamekoso, though invisible, had made sure to leave his summoner a rather clear trail to follow, as broken branches and bark burned by acid littered the path ahead. As the minutes passed, Naruto noticed that the amount of markings for him to follow was decreasing. _I hope that's a sign that I'm catching up…_

His musing was answered when the blue-robed male's figure became visible in the forest just ahead. Utakata's breathing appeared labored, and there looked to be a small spot of red on the white bandages wrapped around his chest. Kamekoso was nowhere to be found, and the blonde deduced that he had returned to the Bankakyu Forest after Utakata had stopped moving. "Hello there!" Naruto called out, a bit too cheerfully considering what he was there to do. "You don't look so good."

Utakata glared at him. "What do you want from me?"

"The bounty on your head," the blonde responded easily. "I already took care of the _oinin_ that were on your tail…we had conflicting interests." He cocked his head to the side. "You know, in a way, you should be grateful to me…who knows what those guys would've done to you once you were back in Kirigakure."

The brunette remained silent. Naruto took a step forward. "So, are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way? Personally, I was hoping you'd put up a little bit of a challenge, but considering your condition…"

"Neither," Utakata returned. Naruto suddenly became aware of the amount of bubbles surrounding him. "I'm done with you." He snapped his fingers. "_**Suiton: Hōmatsu no Jutsu**_."

The entire array of watery spheres exploded. Naruto barely managed to activate the Earth Spear technique as a failsafe defensive maneuver, and even then, he was blown back several yards by the concussive blast. He jumped onto a thick branch of a nearby tree. "So, this is the type of stuff you can pull off with Soap Bubble ninjutsu, huh? Interesting…"

Utakata didn't bother responding, instead jerking his head and expelling an arc of water that soared for Naruto's neck. "_**Suiton: Mizukiri no Jutsu**_…"

"You're not much for banter, are you?" Naruto muttered. He tried jumping away from his perch, but found his foot stuck to the branch by some sort of dark green slime. _What the…when did he…_ His eyes focused back on the incoming Water Cutter. _Questions later, protect from decapitation now._ The blonde crossed his arms before his neck protectively and once more hardened his skin.

Water broke over the impenetrable defense of the Earth Spear technique, the elemental advantage of Naruto's jutsu serving to further block the liquid. When he lowered his arms, a wave of greenish-tinged water was already on its way to crash over him. Not liking how different it looked from normal _**Suiton**_ attacks, the blonde undid his sandal and slipped out of it, retreating to the ground as the wave washed over the tree.

The plant vanished with a sickening hiss, melting down to the earth and leaving a small divot where it once stood. Naruto frowned. _Acid…he can mix a powerful acid into his ninjutsu. Plus, he can cause explosions with his bubbles and create some sort of sticky substance that's difficult to escape from…and that I likely won't be able to get away from again,_ he thought, sparing a mournful glance to his bare foot. He undid the other sandal and pulled it off, tossing it away into the bushes. _And he's smart. Man, do I know how to pick 'em or what?_

Another field of bubbles floated into his vision. He spared a quick glance at Utakata and found that the older male hadn't moved from his original position. _Fine…let's take the battle to you then._ The Jinchūriki leapt into the air and corkscrewed, using chakra to manipulate the surrounding air. This time, when the bubbles exploded, Naruto was safely ensconced in his _**Kazekyū**_, a protective sphere of wind that was partially inspired by Hyūga Neji's _**Kaiten**_. Descending from his jump, he performed hand signs and then threw forward his palms with a shout. A powerful Great Breakthrough ripped through the woods, blowing away any of Utakata's attempts at a follow-up assault.

As the winds from his jutsu blew past, Naruto raced forward and engaged in a taijutsu battle with Utakata. The former Mist shinobi was no slouch, even injured, using his surprisingly durable bubble blower to block several hits. Fed up with the weapon which seemed to cause him so much trouble, the blonde commanded several threads to pop out of the suture near his wrist. He had a moment to revel in the bubble-user's look of surprise before his kinjutsu twined around the bubble blower and yanked it from the male's grasp. With the instrument in his possession, the Jinchūriki hardened his fist and crushed it.

Instead of the sound of crunching bamboo, there was a slight 'pop'. Naruto's eyes widened slightly as Utakata became suddenly transparent and then promptly exploded.

The force of the blast sent him flying backwards out of the ensuing smoke cloud. He was mostly unharmed, though his clothes were severely rumpled and the bandages wound around his left arm were smudged with dirt and unraveling. Naruto was suddenly grateful for how resilient _**Jiongu **_made his body; small cuts were normally stitched close within seconds, and his possession of the kinjutsu had altered his body structure so that bleeding was a relatively rare occurrence.

Blue eyes roved around the area warily. "You're good," he commented, loud enough for his target to hear him from wherever he was. "Using a Bubble Clone to flesh out what I could do while also going for the kill…I have to admit that this is more of a challenge than I thought it would be." When it became apparent that Utakata wasn't going to attack him, Naruto slowly began to form hand seals.

If the bubble-user wasn't going to show himself – and, honestly, that was probably the smartest strategy – then Naruto would just have to flush him out. He had finally started to take Kakuzu's words about creating his own 'ultimate techniques' to heart, and had opted to begin with the element his body was originally attuned to: wind. Despite the fact that he could use the technique through _**Jiongu**_, he preferred to keep his wind heart safely secured inside his body so as to use a wider range of techniques; not to mention that Utakata's apparent tendency toward explosions meant that, on their own, his thread-creatures might not survive alone in battle. The threads were hardy, but only to a certain point.

That was okay, though. He wanted to see what his wind jutsu could do by his own power. Inhaling deeply, he paused for a moment to collect the required chakra and finish the last seal. "_**Fūton: Kussaku Kūkidan!**_"

A large sphere of wind burst forth from his mouth, approximately the size of his head. It tore through the forest directly in front of the blonde, digging a shallow trench in the earth as it moved. Naruto watched with some pride as any trees in the Drilling Air Bullet's way were uprooted and turned into splinters.

The theory of the technique was actually quite simple: the sphere of air was made entirely of slicing wind chakra, which gave it the cutting quality necessary to tear a long path in anything in its way. After a short swath of destruction was carved, the Drilling Air Bullet would release its shape, sending a veritable wall of cutting air out in a wide area. In a lot of ways, it was similar to Kakuzu's own ultimate wind technique – it was difficult to not do so, given that, with little exception, many ninjutsu had the same effect – but the initial compact size of the attack made the follow-up explosion of air unexpected.

_I'm going to hope that hit him,_ thought the blonde, _though my luck so far would indicate that to be unlikely._

He was proven right when another flurry of bubbles came at him from his left. Naruto erected an earthen wall for them to pop against harmlessly before placing both palms against the hardened soil and pushing, sending it in the direction of the assault. It slammed into the nearest tree, which creaked and toppled backwards. Utakata jumped to the ground, bubble blower held at the ready. There was a tense moment as both combatants stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.

The whistling of wind caused both shinobi to turn in the direction Naruto had launched the _**Kussaku Kūkidan**_. A gale-force tempest swept through the area, picking up the pair and throwing them into a tumble with a pile of broken bark and branches. Naruto groaned and rubbed his head as he picked himself out of the debris of wood. "Nngh…damn…I already took out the Kiri-nin. There shouldn't be any Konoha-nin this far out in Fire Country right now…who the hell else would interfere with my business?"

"Heheh, check it out! It's the little blonde shitstain!"

Naruto felt his eye begin to spasmodically twitch. _No…no _fucking _way…_

He looked up and saw the telltale black cloak with red clouds of Akatsuki. "Astute as usual, Hidan," came the dry retort. Kakuzu's strange green eyes focused intently on Naruto. "Hello, brat."

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu would admit to being surprised at running into his blonde pupil; the world was vast, and the likelihood of actually encountering his legacy considering their current assignments was small to be sure. The sheer irony that they were both chasing the same target was a huge coincidence, though massively amusing.

Judging by the expression on the younger thread-user's face, Naruto did not share in the sentiment. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

Kakuzu smirked behind his mask, distinctly aware that he should feel insulted, yet more entertained by his student's ire. "Hunting."

Naruto's blue eyes shifted briefly to the pile of tree debris that Utakata was – presumably – buried under before returning to stare at his teacher. "No you don't! That bastard is mine!" he declared, pointing in the former Kiri-nin's direction. "And how did you even find this guy, anyway?"

The former Taki-nin remained unaffected by Naruto's anger. Truthfully, Pein had contacted him a number of days ago with some information about the Rokubi while he and Hidan had been venturing across Frost Country. Apparently, one of Sasori's spies in the Hidden Mist – and Kakuzu privately marveled at how expansive and well-developed the puppeteer's spy network was – had filed a mission detailing a squad of _oinin_ go out to the Tsuchigumo Village where the previous team of hunters had disappeared. Based on that, he and Hidan had immediately headed for Fire Country, a trip which Kakuzu found himself grateful for (Hidan's constant complaints about Frost Country's climate had been grating on his nerves for the past week).

Of course, the bounty hunter had no intention of letting his protégé know any of that. "Talent…something which you apparently still lack."

Naruto's lip curled a little at the insult. "I swear…" he started, lifting his finger towards his mentor, "I will fight you over this, Kakuzu. I already owe you one for putting me in the Bingo Book…this guy's _mine_."

"Heh, I'd like to see you try, blondie," Hidan interjected, removing his scythe from his back.

"Your attempt at fighting us would be quite…amusing," Kakuzu agreed, skating over his pupil's accusation, "but I would prefer to save my energy for an actual challenge." He tilted his head to one side curiously. "I am mildly surprised to see you looking as well as you do."

"Why?" Naruto asked, suspicious. "This guy's pretty skilled, but he's nothing I can't handle."

Kakuzu, for once, chose to ignore the setup Naruto had (unknowingly) given him. "…You have no idea who he is, do you?"

The blonde arched one eyebrow. "Utakata, bubbler-user of Kirigakure, worth 50 million ryō."

There was a loud roar, followed by a wave of foul chakra and then the hissing of something disintegrating. Naruto looked over to where Utakata was supposed to be buried to find a vaguely humanoid form covered in red-black skin, six oblong tails protruding from the base of its spine. "He is the Jinchūriki of the Rokubi," Kakuzu intoned, "and it appears that he can excrete some sort of extremely acidic substance which burns anything which it comes into contact with. Interesting."

He took a step towards the transformed Jinchūriki, but Naruto's protesting shout caused him to stop. "Hey, I told you that he's mine! Jinchūriki or not, I found him first, and I'm the one who's gonna get the money!"

Kakuzu spared him a dry look. "Do not challenge me, brat. Find a target more suitable to your skill level…a Grass Chūnin, for instance." Naruto growled and charged Kakuzu, tired of his teacher's insults. Simultaneously, a stream of bubbles exited Utakata's gaping maw.

The bounty hunter blocked his pupil's first strike and punched him in the solar plexus with the other hand. He grabbed the blonde by the neck and spun, launching him into the air above Utakata. As the transformed Jinchūriki looked up, Kakuzu went through hand seals, causing his wind heart to appear on his shoulder and launch a _**Fūton: Atsugai**_ in the boys' direction. The approaching bubbles popped instantly, sliced by the sharpest element, and Utakata slid back a number of feet.

Naruto, airborne, was picked up by the gale-force winds and hurled far into the surrounding trees.

Kakuzu watched expressionlessly as his student fell away. "Stay back, Hidan," he warned. "The right to this Jinchūriki belongs to me."

-l-l-l-

Naruto returned to alertness after several minutes, distinctly aware of how uncomfortable he was. Kakuzu had pressed some sort of nerve in his neck which had caused him to temporarily black out, and his body had landed in a tree, limbs splayed awkwardly across several different branches. "I hate him," he muttered, knowing it wasn't true but feeling vindicated regardless. No matter what Kakuzu did, Naruto would always find himself in the man's debt for rescuing him and helping him to grow. Each put up with the crap the other dished out…it was just how they operated. Naruto just happened to be on the receiving end more than his teacher.

None of that prevented him from being pissed at his mentor for taking over his kill, but that was quite beside the point.

In the distance, Naruto saw a bluish-white, rounded head crest the treetops. He squinted at the figure. _Is that…the Rokubi? Way to go, Kakuzu,_ he thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

It only took a moment to right himself and descend to the ground. "Alright, here's what's gonna happen…I'm gonna let Kakuzu wear him down, and then, when he least expects it, I'll swoop in and steal his thunder, just like he did to me. Yeah…victory _and_ vengeance…I can't wait to – HEY!"

Wood sprouted from the earth and boxed in the blonde, trapping him in a solid cube with no slits or air holes. "Of course," he sighed, voice resounding in the enclosed space, "the party wouldn't be complete without you, Tenzō."

"Greetings, Jinchūriki," he heard the man say.

"How'd you find me?"

"I felt a Bijū's chakra being emitted, and so followed it here. I had thought it might be you, but…" The Konoha-nin trailed off, and Naruto imagined that he was perhaps gazing in the direction of the Rokubi. "Hokage-sama would probably find two Jinchūriki more useful than one. With a limited supply of air, you will eventually succumb to oxygen deprivation, allowing me to restrain the other Jinchūriki. You will not be able to break out of my Wood Release ninjutsu."

Naruto knew his enemy was right; his head was already starting to feel a little fuzzy. Previous experience had taught him that the man's _**Mokuton**_ affinity was extraordinarily durable and that cutting through it with something like wind chakra was out of the question. Not only would Tenzō have reinforced the prison holding him due to his prior escapes, but as a dual-element, Wood Release would be stronger than either Earth or Water Release separately.

Fortunately, he realized with sudden clarity, he also had a dual-element Bloodline Limit at his disposal. Even better, the lightning element of Storm Release was strong against the earth portion of Wood Release, and the water parts would cancel. Naruto had the advantage.

Cramped as he was in the cube, the blonde decided he would have to activate the technique on his own power instead of _**Jiongu**_'s. He used the threads to resituate the appropriate heart in his chest, and immediately he could sense the prickle of lightning and fluidity of water. Forming seals, he channeled chakra until a nimbus of glowing energy formed around his hands. "_**Ranton: Hikari Taihō**_; Storm Release: Light Cannon!"

A blast of blue-white light – two feet in diameter – exploded from his hands and gouged a hole through the front wall of his prison. When the technique ended, Naruto wriggled his way out of the wooden construct and somersaulted to his feet. "That was pretty cool," he admitted, admiring the trail of destruction that disappeared into the forest. "Now, where'd that bas— ah!"

Tenzō melded out of the earth before Naruto, his right shoulder and bicep missing a piece of sleeve and bearing a burn mark. "You're skilled," the ANBU told Naruto, or more specifically, the blonde's head; he had just been buried up to his chin in dirt. "At the very least, your mastery of elements is…quite impressive." He withdrew his sword from its sheath and held it so the handle was facing Naruto, then brought it down in a swift movement to knock him out.

A wall of earth rose in front of the blonde's head, catching the ANBU's wrist before it connected. The ground began to quake, and in short order, Naruto was free from his confines, sitting atop his earth heart thread-creature. "I know," he stated a bit smugly. "You should tell my teacher you think so." The thread-creature broke Tenzō's wrist, but the man's form became wooden and immobile. "Wood Clone…damn, this guy's good." He took off his second shirt and looped it around his waist so it wouldn't get lost or ruined. "But I have a fight to get back to and a teacher to piss off, so…" The bandages around his arm were completely shredded as both limbs extended, the masks for his fire and storm elements becoming situated in the spread of threads to either side of his head (his wind heart was in his chest); in the process, his earth heart remerged with his body. A tongue of tendrils slipped out of his mouth, forked like a serpent's. "Come and get me," he hissed.

Wooden tendrils arced towards him from the left, and Naruto jumped to the right as his storm mask released a thin beam of light that spliced through the attack. The blonde performed hand signs, exhaling a blast of wind right after his fire mask unleashed a wave of flames, turning the surrounding foliage into cinders.

Tremors shook the earth, forcing Naruto to use his elongated limbs to stretch for an undestroyed tree and hang there while the ground split open. He swung over the chasm Tenzō's technique had created and found purchase on a bough on the opposite side, where the Leaf shinobi's initial attack had come from. Blue eyes searched the landscape for any sign of an approaching attack.

They widened in surprise when his periphery caught Tenzō emerging from his tree's trunk, mere feet away, hands formed into some sort of massive wooden mallet. The man brought the makeshift weapon to bear, and Naruto found himself immensely thankful to _**Jiongu**_, whose threads came from around his back to take the brunt of the blow. Still, the force of it sent him plummeting to the ground below, where earthen spikes awaited him.

Naruto called upon the threads to encompass him, and they jumped to his bidding, encasing him in a sphere of black that, hardened by his chakra, cocooned him from Tenzō's trap. When the tendrils returned to their previous state, the blonde found himself surrounded by the broken remains of rocky stalagmites.

"Those threads are very durable," echoed Tenzō's voice, "and versatile."

_You have no idea,_ the blonde thought. Based on observing the man's actions, he had just managed to formulate a trap that would end the fight. Deciding that the best way to spring it was to go on the offensive, he fully extruded his fire and lightning hearts (the fifth one still stored on his back, underneath the threads) and had the creatures start scouring the forest, unleashing ninjutsu to force the ANBU out of hiding. While his enemy was presumably distracted, Naruto slipped his earth heart out from his back and into the ground via the Hiding in Rock Technique.

Eventually, the flashes of lightning and fire that were tearing through the forest ceased, and Naruto was fully prepared when a wooden beam sprouted from the earth and twined around his body. It stopped suddenly at his hips, and then the ground shook and exploded upward in a shower of soil.

The thread-creature that housed his earth heart had Tenzō trapped within its body, tendrils of _**Jiongu**_ holding his arms to the side in a sort of crude crucifixion meant to prevent the Konoha-nin from forming seals. Naruto remained where he was, but recalled both his fire and lightning hearts, and allowed the kinjutsu sprouting from his body to bury under his skin, returning his appearance to normal; the masks took their rightful places on his back. He continued to stay motionless, waiting to see if Tenzō had some sort of way out and was waiting for him to become more vulnerable to enact it. When that didn't happen for several minutes, he took a step forward until he was only feet from where the man was restrained.

"So, it's come to this. You've been a bit of a thorn in my side, you know? But I guess I should thank you. After all, because of you, I'm about to get my hands on one of the most powerful _kekkei genkai_ the world has ever known." He paused, then tilted his head to the side, as if considering an interesting curio. "I guess Konoha has done more for me than I originally gave it credit for. My thanks," he finished sardonically, pretending to doff a hat. Then he held out his arm, and _**Jiongu**_'s threads reached out to writhe into his enemy's body.

There were only so many rules in ANBU, but the chief one was that, if you got caught or were mortally wounded, you destroyed your body. It was unforgivable to allow any secrets of the Hidden Leaf to fall into the enemy's hands. That rule was even more important for Tenzō, who was the only inheritor of the Shodai Hokage's famed _**Mokuton**_ bloodline. Most ANBU were taught a seal to perform in order to do the deed.

Tenzō had been ordered to create Wood Clone after Wood Clone and have them die in order to make sure he could perform the action seal-lessly.

His body burst into blue flames, and soon there was nothing left of the ANBU known as Tenzō. Naruto gaped openly, eventually using a mild water jutsu to put out the fire on the thread-creature possessing his earth heart. It returned to his body like all the others as the blonde bemoaned the loss of such a powerful _kekkei genkai_.

Then he turned to face the area where the roundish figure of a blue-white blob could still be seen. _At least something still has the potential to go right._

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu jumped back as his wind and water hearts expelled their respective elements, creating a powerful barrier against the wave of acidic fluid that barreled toward him. He was in a mid-range form that utilized his remaining elemental masks without putting his actual body in jeopardy (unlike the long-armed, two-hearted form, which used the limbs' reach to attack the opponent).

The old nukenin had decided to disallow his useful thread-creatures to roam free when his fire heart had been vaporized in a stream of alkaline solution emitted by the Six-Tails.

Now the former Taki-nin had a sort of shell of threads sprouting from his back and protecting as high as his neck (his Akatsuki cloak had been discarded to the side long ago). His water, lightning, and wind hearts were fixed in the spread of threads over each shoulder (the latter two over the right one); otherwise, he looked much like he usually did.

_**Jiongu**_ on its own had proven to be surprisingly ineffective against the Jinchūriki-turned-Bijū, as the massive slug possessed a layer of viscous slime that made anything it touched disintegrate upon contact. In addition, the creature's body was rather malleable, making it somewhat impervious to both taijutsu (not that _that_ was really an option, again because of the slime) and other physically-reliant attacks, such as any Earth Release ninjutsu the bounty hunter had tried to use.

Hidan had also proven to be, predictably, rather useless, even after disregarding his partner's warning to not get involved. Unlike the Nibi, the Rokubi wasn't made of chakra he could collect, and his triple-bladed scythe couldn't dig into the slug's squishy skin.

Kakuzu was grateful for his massive chakra capacity and the wide variety of ninjutsu in his arsenal, because otherwise the battle wouldn't have been going nearly as well as it was. Still, he needed some sort of method to actually inflict damage on the Rokubi; large reserves aside, Kakuzu had little doubt that a Bijū could outlast him in the chakra department.

"Utakata's MINE, Kakuzu!_"_

A powerful beam of bright light accompanied this shout, striking the Rokubi's back and causing the massive blue-white slug to unleash a gurgling shriek. Naruto used the moment of distraction to rush past the Tailed Beast and confront his teacher, a nimbus of glowing energy surrounding his hands. Kakuzu eyed the unusual chakra with his usual detachment. "You took far longer than I expected to return," he noted. "Your skills have become even more mediocre than I imagined possible."

Naruto ignored the slight. "I had some interference…but _nothing_ will prevent me from claiming what is mine." Blue eyes glinted with steely determination. "Not even you."

"Yes, so you have said," returned the nukenin dryly. Another wind and water collaboration held off another attack from the Rokubi, allowing Kakuzu to consider his options. The former Taki-nin would prefer not to fight both the blonde and the Bijū simultaneously, as the massive slug would require most of his concentration to bring down. But if his pupil wanted to stake his claim to the Jinchūriki, perhaps there was a way to manipulate his legacy into helping him… "I would like to propose collaborating to provide a mutually beneficial conclusion."

"…You want to work together? _You?_" The blonde paused, considering the idea. A smirk suddenly came over his features. "You can't take that thing on by yourself," he realized.

"I am perfectly capable of doing such a thing," Kakuzu retorted, a bit testily, "but given your…_desire_…to continue your quest, this seems the most prudent course of action. Otherwise I can just neutralize your pathetic hide and go about this laborious task myself. Take it or leave it."

Naruto waffled for a moment before acquiescing, though his expression was sour. Even if he truly wanted to take down Utakata – or the beast he had transformed into – by himself, he was smart enough to acknowledge that if Kakuzu was having issues, he would have the same issues; despite all his blustering, he was still aware of the fact that Kakuzu was stronger than him, though admitting it chaffed horribly. "You've been fighting this thing, so…what's the plan?"

"The Rokubi is covered in an acidic slime that makes its body resistant to most attacks," Kakuzu explained. "I believe that a strong fire attack would take care of it and make the Bijū vulnerable to an assault."

"Well, why haven't you tried that yet?"

"My heart was destroyed," explained the older shinobi, scowling, "and while I can perform the required techniques without it, I might as well take advantage of you being here."

Naruto didn't bother responding, instead running through seals, biting his thumb, and slamming his palm onto the ground. Kamegōka appeared in a cloud of smoke. The chameleon inhaled as the blonde began to run through more seals. "Ready?" he asked his teacher, holding the Tiger seal; Kakuzu merely snorted in response. "_**Katon: Hibashiri no Jutsu!**_"

Streams of fire came out of his mouth and raced along the ground, creating a ring of flames that surrounded the Rokubi; simultaneously, Kamegōka released his own breath of fire that joined his summoner's. Beside him, Kakuzu performed hand signs and the wind mask opened its beak to reveal a spiraling mass of air. "_**Fūton: Atsugai**_."

The addition of the Pressure Damage technique to the conflagration already around the Bijū caused the flames to rise into a blazing inferno. Both thread-users could hear the high-pitched burbling of the massive slug from inside the whirlwind of fire. "Attack," Kakuzu intoned, forming more hand signs. "_**Uzumaki no Jutsu**_."

It took every ounce of self-control Naruto had to not say something about his teacher's technique. He twisted his fingers through the seals for the _**Ranton: Hikari Taihō**_ as a combination of wind, water, and lightning from Kakuzu's three hearts pierced the wall of flames and assailed the Rokubi; the bluish-white energy beam followed shortly thereafter, resulting in an increase in the Bijū's wailing.

It took several minutes for the vortex of fire to taper out, and when it did, the blue-white form of the Rokubi had also disappeared. In the slug's place was a red-skinned and unconscious Utakata, his blue kimono absent and his black pants charred. "You know, we make a pretty good team," Naruto mentioned, blue eyes staring at the immobile form of his quarry.

Kakuzu grunted, absorbing the tendrils of his kinjutsu back into his body and allowing his masks to settle on his back. "Do not get used to such an event. I am already forced to put up with one moron…I would prefer not to make a habit of getting involved with another."

Naruto waved a hand to dismiss both Kamegōka and Kakuzu's comment and peered around the area. "Hey, where is Hidan, anyway?"

The older thread-user picked up his Akatsuki cloak and put it on. "He was interfering in my assignment, so I was forced to…get rid of him."

"You killed him?"

"If only. He is simply indisposed." Kakuzu walked over and picked up Utakata, hefting the adolescent over his shoulder. "Your help was…appreciated," he granted slowly, as if the word was distasteful. "Now, I must find my…partner."

Naruto withheld a snort of amusement at the disgust in Kakuzu's voice; clearly his opinion of Hidan hadn't improved. "Hey, wait." His teacher stopped and rolled his shoulder to indicate he was listening. "Let me take him to Pein. I still want the bounty on his head."

Kakuzu seemed to consider his offer for a moment before – in a gesture that surprised the blonde – dropping Utakata on the ground. "I will be contacting Pein to let him know of your impending arrival."

The blonde blinked; he hadn't really expected that to work. "Uh…thanks."

"Your platitudes are meaningless."

"Of course they are," he muttered. He opened his mouth to say something to the taller nukenin about how old his Bingo Book was, or how he hadn't appreciated being added to the Bingo Book himself, but then stopped. On a day where Kakuzu was being strangely amiable (at least in this moment), the blonde was better off not pushing his luck. He could silently curse his mentor for what he had done – regardless of the fact that he had received the _**Ranton**_ bloodline due to him – but Kakuzu would probably turn it around on him and make a snide comment that was likely to break their temporary moratorium. Perhaps he was just better off leaving with his prize while he still had the opportunity.

Besides, somehow, Kakuzu always seemed to have his best interests at heart, even if the way he showed it was rather…unconventional. "Thanks," Naruto said again, not quite sure what he was referring to; his gratitude seemed a good thing to offer to cover the blanket of things his teacher had done for him. Kakuzu merely inclined his head and left to go (presumably) find Hidan. Naruto bent down and slung the other Jinchūriki over his shoulder before taking off to Otogakure.

-l-l-l-

Zetsu ran into him part of the way back to Otogakure – probably at Pein's behest – and took the Rokubi Jinchūriki, stating that it was better to seal the creature before the male awoke. Naruto took his time returning to the Hidden Sound, making it back in a little more than a day. In an effort to wait out the sealing ritual, the blonde merely wandered around town until the time came for him to return for the bounty.

He was leaning against the inner wall of Pein's tower when Konan eventually appeared from a hidden stairwell two days later. The blue-haired woman walked past him and out into the village, and after several minutes, Akatsuki's leader appeared. Pein stopped and stared at him with his strange grey eyes. "You may take the body at your convenience," he intoned.

"Ah…thanks."

The blonde made his way for the stairwell, but Pein's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Before you do that," Pein began, "we have things to discuss."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note: **Woohoo, I'm back. Okay, good news, guys - this story has (pretty much) my full attention until the end. My hope is to finish it by the new year.

Things of note: Naruto's 'ultimate wind technique' is pretty much Shukaku's just scaled down to human-size and renamed. I also know that many MANY people wanted Naruto to get the **_Mokuton_ **bloodline...unfortunately, that was never my intention, so my apologies to all you who got your hopes up. And Naruto does know how to use Storm Release in general, but hasn't yet figured out the homing aspect, like Darui's technique; that's why he hasn't perfected it.

Thanks for all of your reviews and comments! I think I responded to most people who had a question, and if I didn't, I apologize. To **newboy:** feel free to use that idea. I don't consider it 'mine' in any real sense. But if I might suggest creating an account so that I don't have to reply to you here? That would probably be good.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of this chapter! The next one's already been started and will hopefully be out in a couple of weeks. Also, poll is still up for my next Naruto story, though "Devil's Advocate" looks like it's gonna win. Gotta say that I'm getting pretty excited to write it, considering I spent a whole day during Hurricane Sandy figuring out the plot for it.


	19. Idealism

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

Pein stood with his back to Naruto, gazing out over the buildings that constituted the Hidden Sound from the top of his tower. Neither male had spoken since Pein had insisted that they talk, the younger one merely following his elder up to his lookout spot. Given that he'd done everything asked of him since meeting Pein, Naruto wondered what the leader of Akatsuki wanted to talk to him about.

And when he'd actually say something.

The orange-haired man chose that moment to open his mouth, though he was still facing away from Naruto. "I spoke with Kakuzu after we finished sealing the Rokubi."

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to that. Though he was unsure as to what happened during the sealing ritual, talking one-on-one with a fellow member of Akatsuki was probably rather unusual; Pein wouldn't bother bringing it up otherwise. The fact that he was speaking to Kakuzu…well, the topic was most likely centered on only one subject – him. That was kind of funny, since whenever _he_ was in Kakuzu's company, his teacher almost never had anything good to say. Even when he did, it was almost always done in some sort of backhanded fashion; anything the nonagenarian would tell someone else about him was unlikely to be positive. A sort of morbid curiosity overtook him, but unsure where exactly Pein was going, he merely said, "Oh."

Pein spared him an over-the-shoulder glance. "You sound…uninterested."

The younger male shuffled awkwardly; even Kakuzu's piercing stares didn't make him nearly as uncomfortable as a mere look from Pein's unique eyes. "Kakuzu doesn't often have much nice to say about me," he admitted, "and you haven't stated what you talked with him about. I'm not really sure what to say right now."

Akatsuki's leader hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, you and your mentor have quite the unusual relationship –"

"Tell me something I don't know," muttered the blonde.

"— but he mentioned that you helped him subdue the Rokubi no Namekuji," continued the older man. "Tell me," he said, turning around to face the blonde, "what would prompt you to help capture another Jinchūriki?"

"Well, I didn't know he was a Jinchūriki at first," he admitted. "Kakuzu's Bingo Book is so damn old that –"

"You're using his Bingo Book?" Pein interjected. Naruto nodded, and the older man blinked slowly. "Interesting. Continue."

Naruto wasn't sure why Pein would describe what Kakuzu would consider useless sentimentality as 'interesting', but he didn't question it. "Anyway, I was trying to…" he paused, thinking of the right words. Somehow, _'prove to my wayward teacher that he's wrong about me by invading the Hidden Mist and killing one of their esteemed shinobi'_ didn't really feel like the right thing to say. "He had a high bounty, according to the book," he finally settled on, "and I wanted to get him. But then Kakuzu showed up and said that Utakata was his, and I didn't just want to let him show me up, so…"

He had started rambling, and Pein held up a hand to forestall the rest of his diatribe. The orange-haired man seemed to have drawn his own conclusion based on the blonde's words. "That explains your original motivation, and yet, once you found out he was a Jinchūriki, you still chose to stay and neutralize him."

"I didn't want to get shown up," he defended. Now that he was saying it, his reasoning sounded rather shallow and…dumb.

Pein decided not to comment on it, instead turning around and resuming his watch over Otogakure. "Zetsu located the Hachibi. I sent Itachi and Kisame out to capture the Jinchūriki."

When he didn't immediately continue speaking, Naruto shifted uncomfortably. What was he supposed to say to that? "Oh…"

"Yes," Pein confirmed, and Naruto wondered if the man thought Naruto had reached some sort of obvious conclusion or if he was just agreeing for the sake of it. "When the Hachibi is sealed, the only Jinchūriki remaining will be you and your associate."

The blonde tensed. _Did he keep me here to kill me now?_

With his back still turned, the motion went unnoticed by Pein. "Due to the nature of the sealing statue, the Kyūbi must be sealed last." Naruto's muscles relaxed at the same time Pein shot him another over-the-shoulder look. "You are safe until such time as we can capture the Nanabi."

Naruto wasn't sure whether that statement was meant to be reassuring or not. It sounded kind of like it, but the knowledge that Fū's death was the only thing standing in the way of his own was not as comforting as Pein made it out to be. _…Joy._

"Do you have goals you'd like to achieve?"

"…Come again?"

Pein turned to face him fully and actually strode forward; only a number of feet separated them now. "Goals," he repeated. "Something to strive for."

"I…" Naruto wasn't quite sure what to say. Sure, there were some things that he would have liked to have occurred before he died – receiving Kakuzu's praise was near the top of that list, though the likelihood of that occurring was slim, regardless of the timetable on his death. Most of the other things weren't exactly goals so much as things he would've liked to grow up and try, given the opportunity to become an adult. His mind flickered around for an idea, and finally latched on to the one that had been driving him since meeting Kakuzu so many years ago. "I want vengeance against Konoha," he settled on.

"Hmm…that is a lofty objective…"

"Yeah, I know, but –"

"You did not let me finish," Pein interrupted. Naruto fell silent at the man's words, unwilling to get on his bad side; the other male kind of controlled his fate, after all. "As I was saying, getting vengeance upon Konoha is an impressive goal, but not an impossible one. Nor are you the only one who desires it."

Naruto connected the dots almost immediately. "You?"

"The Hidden Leaf has done much to earn my wrath, and it has profited far too much from the tragedy that has befallen others. Seeing it razed to the ground would be quite satisfying." He turned his back to Naruto, walked forward, and beckoned for the boy to approach; the blonde found himself standing beside Akatsuki's leader, overlooking the Village Hidden in Sound. "Do you know what Akatsuki's goal is?"

Naruto was slightly taken aback by the question, but he recovered quickly. "Uh, isn't it to use the Bijū so as to control war and then the world?"

"That is what I would have the other members believe," Pein stated. Naruto's ears perked at the admission, suddenly aware that the orange-haired man was bringing him into his confidence. It was either a sign of his faith in the blonde, or an omen of Naruto's impending death that Pein could reveal such sensitive information and not fear it leaking.

"So…what's the actual goal?"

"My true intention is to create a kinjutsu that will annihilate one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, setting an example for the others to discourage them from engaging in warfare. This will create a world where Akatsuki controls the struggle of power that has always existed amongst the Hidden Villages, a world which lives under the same umbrella of fear, of pain…a world where peace reigns."

"You're…fighting for peace?"

Pein spared the younger male a sidelong glance. "Do you take offense to that?"

Naruto returned the look and blinked blankly. "No, I'm just…it's just surprising, that's all. I didn't really expect you to be trying to achieve something so…good."

The orange-haired man returned his gaze to the city below. "Long ago, I used to live in Amegakure, the Village Hidden in Rain. It was a place that was always strife with war because of its location among the Fire, Earth, and Wind Countries. The Shinobi World Wars created many casualties, including both of my parents and my closest friend.

"It was his desire to become the leader of Amegakure, and even beyond that, in order to prevent war from taking place. Only by controlling the world could he instigate and enforce peace. After his death, I swore to continue his dream. To that end, I learned of the existence of the Bijū. By utilizing their collective power, I could control a force strong enough to accomplish the same end as my friend."

_The ends justify the means… _"…Why are you telling me this?" asked the Jinchūriki, apprehensive of the answer.

"Because we are similar," Pein stated. "Our histories may be different, but we have lived through many of the same experiences. You're also quite intriguing…an anomaly of sorts. I did not expect you to be so useful when Kakuzu advised I speak to you upon his joining Akatsuki. Your dedication to your self-imposed mission is quite impressive." He turned ringed eyes upon the teen. "In many ways, you also remind me of my friend. It's…refreshing. Nostalgic."

"Ah." Naruto wasn't quite sure what else to say. He never would have guessed Pein's real intentions for Akatsuki…they were just too outlandish for such a powerful figure, especially one who portrayed himself as interested in world domination. On the other hand, he also understood why Pein had never shared his plans with the other members; if any of the S-class nukenin found out what their leader's true aspirations were, it was highly unlikely they would've wanted to remain a part of the organization. And Pein needed them in order to collect all the Bijū so his plans could come to fruition. It was manipulative as hell, but also very clever.

Regardless, Naruto still felt like he was on the wrong end of Pein's objectives.

"Your relationship with your teacher is quite unusual."

And now he was confused; Pein kept switching topics too quickly for him to properly keep track of. "Huh?"

"Your relationship with Kakuzu," Pein repeated. "It's strange." Naruto thought that that was a mild way to describe how they got along, but the older man apparently wasn't done with his musing. "At first glance, one would assume that you hated each other, given how you converse and interact, but that is a false assumption. Despite the animosity you seem to show each other, your relationship is quite strong. You desire his attention and acceptance, probably due to how he reared you."

"How did you –"

Pein preempted his question. "I am no stranger to the quest for acknowledgment. Additionally, only the strongest feelings of devotion would keep you working near him when he is hunting members of your kind." Naruto huffed and crossed his arms, but didn't deny the claim. "On the other hand," continued the orange-haired male, "I believe that Kakuzu views you as a reminder of how far he has come. It is hard to say, but I think that he considers you to be a younger version of himself."

Naruto, once again, couldn't formulate a response, though this time it was more due to shock. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that Kakuzu didn't care about him – even if it was hidden by indifference and disparaging remarks – but to have someone else point it out was something quite different. Pein had to be a rather perceptive individual to pick up on the sorts of clues that would lead to that conclusion, especially if he was reading them off of someone like Kakuzu.

He also wasn't done talking. "I have the distinct impression that he would be highly disappointed if you, at least, were sacrificed on behalf of Akatsuki's goals. Every time I have brought up the topic of your impending death, he has found ways to persuade me to prolong it, though always in a very subtle fashion. Kakuzu is clever, and his methods are very surreptitious, but his tenacity in avoiding the subject of allowing you to die is very telling."

Naruto felt a small amount of gratitude swell in his chest at the notion that Kakuzu cared enough to fight for his life, even if the old nukenin never showed such sentiment when they ran into each other. "I appreciate you telling me that…I suppose," he added, still unsure where Pein was going with their meeting.

"I've decided," Pein began in a voice Naruto would've considered magnanimous if it wasn't so flat, "that you and your friend are greater assets to me alive rather than dead."

"You're…not going to take the Kyūbi from me?"

"No. I've discovered an alternative method to use the Bijū that won't require a complete extraction, though I'll still require access to the Nanabi's and Kyūbi's chakras."

"That's…great!" _I'm going to live! Fū's going to live! We can…_ His thought trailed off, unsure where to go from there. The memory of Fū kissing him was still relatively fresh in his mind, and though he hadn't consciously thought much of it after the initial moment (due to his focus on simply surviving to his next birthday), it suddenly appeared as if he had the time to consider his future…and who that future could contain.

That rather expansive thought process was cut off by Pein. "Unfortunately, I have an associate who will be less than pleased about such a course of action. It will take some…persuasion…to sway him." Naruto frowned a little at how ominous that sounded, but decided not to question it. "I would like to ask a favor of you, as compensation."

"Yeah, sure, anything you want," Naruto affirmed, deciding that it behooved him to be gracious.

"It is my desire to free Amegakure from the clutches of Hanzō the Salamander. While I have every intention of taking him down personally —" Naruto noted that the orange-haired man sounded particularly vindictive "— the less of his forces I have to deal with, the better.

"I would like you," he stated, fixing Naruto with a grey-eyed stare, "to infiltrate Amegakure and create an opening for me to reach Hanzō."

Naruto blinked at the unexpected request. "Oh…well, sure, that seems doable."

Pein nodded once. "Good. There is already an operative of Akatsuki's working on the same mission within the Hidden Rain. You should meet up with him. I expect you two to be able to get me access to Hanzō as soon as possible."

"Anything else?"

"No." He turned and strode away from the blonde. "Take the Rokubi Jinchūriki's body on your way out and finish your mission. I wish you luck."

"Yeah, thanks…hey!" he called before Pein completely disappeared into a hidden doorway that had just opened. "What was your friend's name? The one you said I reminded you of."

"Yahiko," Pein replied after a pause. He went through the door and allowed it to shut behind him, leaving Naruto in the building by himself.

_Well, time to get down to business._

-l-l-l-

_WHILE IT IS AMUSING TO WATCH THE HACHIBI GET THRASHED BY MERE HUMANS, I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST LEAVING THIS PLACE. UPON ITS CAPTURE, YOU WILL BE ONE OF THE FEW JINCHŪRIKI LEFT TO ROAM FREELY, AND I WOULD PREFER NOT TO SHARE THE FATE OF MY BRETHREN._

Fū didn't respond to the Nanabi, choosing instead to continue observing the battle occurring before her very eyes. Given how far away she was, it was difficult to tell what was happening – though the Hachibi's massive size made its movements much easier to see – but judging by the pair of black-cloaked figures, the height difference between them, and the simply _massive_ amount of water the taller one had just conjured, Kisame and Itachi were working to neutralize the Eight-Tails as quickly as possible.

Even if the beetle was worried for itself, Fū wanted an idea of what was going on with Akatsuki, and better yet, how they fought against a summoned Bijū.

It was actually a huge coincidence that had led to her current situation. She had entered Lightning Country on a bounty hunt for a blonde male with a specialty in _**Katon**_ ninjutsu after skimming the Bingo Book (she had been rather amused to find a description of Naruto in it) and deciding that her skill in earth ninjutsu stood a better chance against him than a white-haired male who could channel lightning chakra through his sword. Crossing the region had been an interesting experiment, given that she had mostly been exploring the veritable wasteland of Earth Country, but given that she wasn't on any particular timetable, she hadn't been overly worried about taking her time. Finding the man hadn't taken all that long – apparently he was somewhat of a loudmouth – and the green-haired girl had taken great pleasure in shutting him up by killing him.

Honestly, if he had said 'hot' _one more time_, Fū would've blown a gasket.

The storage scroll that Naruto had bestowed upon her had never been more useful than in that moment; Fū didn't fancy trying to trek back over the mountains that composed Lightning Country with a heavy body slung over her shoulders. It was during this journey that the sound of a roar had reached her ears, and the head of a massive reddish-brown ox-like creature had crested the nearby mountain ridge. Curious but wary, she had decided to find a spot to better see what was going on.

It had been quite a while since Fū had given Akatsuki any serious thought. That wasn't to say that she had forgotten about them – the threat they posed to her life was all too real for that comfort – but she didn't see the purpose in worrying over something that was out of her control. Either Akatsuki would decide that they needed the Nanabi and come after her, or they wouldn't; and if they did decide to pursue her, she would fight back until her body was broken and immobile. Whether she was strong enough to fend them off didn't really matter. Her focus was on improving her skills for her own benefit, not to meet a certain plateau in power and peak there.

She was well aware of the fact that her actions had little bearing on Akatsuki's decision to keep her alive or not. Naruto was the one with connections to many of the members – Kakuzu, Itachi, Kisame, Pein – and it was him who would make the difference on whether their lives were forfeit or not, not for her lack of trying to be useful, of course.

The green-haired girl reflected on that thought. Things always seemed to return to her blonde companion in the end.

When she had still been a member of Takigakure, Kakuzu had been her idol simply because of the reputation he carried. Humanity had spurned her existence, just as it had done to Kakuzu generations before. The nukenin had embodied everything that Fū wished she had in order to escape the hellhole that was the Hidden Waterfall and be free to do as she desired. And so, when Naruto had arrived and given her the opportunity to fulfill her dreams, to meet the man she idolized, it had been the greatest moment of her short life.

Reality, however, was very different from fantasy. Fū had held no illusions that Kakuzu was a nice person; in fact, she would've been somewhat disappointed if he had turned out to be one. He was a cruel man with a penchant for giving priority to the object with the most value.

That object, apparently, was Naruto.

Kakuzu's expectations for her had been very clear; she was a tool meant to spur Naruto to bigger and better things. That hadn't put her off from reaping the benefits of being Kakuzu's tool, though it had started a slow shift of perspective on who her idol should really be.

While Kakuzu was a superb shinobi and a good mentor when he truly put forth the effort, Naruto had slowly become her motivation to keep moving forward. When that had turned into infatuation…well, Fū honestly hadn't been all that surprised. She was still a girl, after all, and the only males in her life were Kakuzu and Naruto (Harō's brief dalliance with their team hardly counted as a strong enough basis for any real attachment to form). Given Kakuzu's personality and age versus Naruto's understanding and kinship forged from being a Jinchūriki, her interest in the blonde had really only been a matter of time.

How far those feelings extended was still questionable. It would've been easy to say that she loved him, except that she had no measure for what constituted love. How was she supposed to know what the difference between casual interest and love was without any other friends or associates to compare her emotions for? Kakuzu didn't count…he was a statistical anomaly when it came to such matters.

Still, she knew she felt _something_ for the blonde, and those feelings had culminated in the simple desire to show him some form of affection – the kiss. She had already decided previous to that moment that it would be wiser to split up. Kakuzu's training had given both of them enough of a power boost that venturing together would be more of a hindrance to their respective safety and future profitability than a boon. Fū knew that, if Akatsuki should decide to seal the Nanabi and the Kyūbi, she would be the first one targeted, either because of necessity or because Kakuzu would subtly prod Pein into keeping Naruto alive for as long as he possibly could. Naruto, after all, was more valuable.

It wasn't necessarily the possibility of never seeing him again that had spurred her into kissing him, though she would've been lying to say it hadn't played a small part in her decision. The knowledge that Naruto had done so much for her, some things even without his direct awareness, combined with her desire to let him know that there was a life beyond simply bounty hunting and trying to survive Akatsuki, had galvanized her into at least attempting to show him how she felt.

Of course, whether or not he actually returned her feelings was another matter entirely. Judging only by how little he had responded during the kiss, she would've had to guess that they weren't on the same wavelength, though that could've been chalked up to shock and inexperience. She had tried not to focus on Naruto's opinions of her during their time apart, choosing instead to put a great deal of effort into making herself enough of an asset to Akatsuki that the organization would decide to keep her alive.

It was probably a futile gesture, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do anyway.

Fū was distracted from her thoughts as a brilliant flash of yellow light drew her attention and eroded the mountain next to the one she was on. _Wow…_

_THE POWER OF THE __**BIJŪDAMA**__ IS QUITE IMPRESSIVE._

_No kidding._ Orange eyes returned to watching Itachi and Kisame battle against the Hachibi, the former exhaling fireballs at the beast's head while the latter used his sword to drain chakra from the Bijū's thrashing tentacle-tails. Fū began to form hand signs before she was even aware of what she was doing.

The Nanabi, however, took notice. _WHAT ARE YOU DOING?_ It sounded almost apprehensive about the way its container's fingers twisted around each other.

"I'm tired of sitting back and doing nothing," she muttered, holding her hands out in the classic position required for using _**Jinton**_.

_FOOLISH GIRL! _This time, the tinge of panic in the beetle's buzzing was quite audible. _WHILE I HAVE NO ISSUE WITH PUTTING THE HACHIBI IN ITS PLACE, ITS CAPTURE BRINGS US ONE STEP CLOSER TO DEATH!_

"They'll eventually capture the Eight-Tails, with or without my help," Fū shot back, sweat beginning to trickle down her face. "Kakuzu said that Itachi and Kisame are the strongest pair within Akatsuki…they wouldn't have been sent if they couldn't do the job."

_THEN LET THEM DO IT! YOU ARE RISKING BOTH OF OUR LIVES BY INTERFERING!_

"I don't care. What will be, will be." If nothing else, Kakuzu's pragmatism had certainly rubbed off on his female pupil. "Now shut up…I'm trying to concentrate."

Fū had discovered that it was easier to manipulate the form the atomizing powers granted to her by the Nanabi took _after_ summoning them in the geometric shape described by the scroll Pein had given her. It was too difficult to focus on the tri-elemental nature manipulation _and_ the shape manipulation simultaneously, so after creating a square pyramidal base of Dust Release in her hands, she could change the form to something more useful to the situation. Unfortunately, it was still an art in the making, requiring some measure of concentration, and the Seven-Tails' buzzing panic wasn't conducive to what she was trying to achieve. After another several moments, the technique was straining against her hold on it; she released it in a powerful burst of chakra.

"_**Jinton: Chiriryūdan no Jutsu!**_"

A massive dragon erupted from her hands, opaque and grayish-brown in color. It roared through the air and crashed through two of the Hachibi's tentacles, disintegrating them upon contact.

Fū almost wished she was close enough to see the surprise on Kisame's and Itachi's faces…well, if Itachi had the capacity to display emotion, anyway. In the back of her mind, she hoped that her assistance in the capture of the Hachibi would be noted and added to her list of useful qualities as a reason for Akatsuki to not kill her.

The diversion apparently did its job, for Itachi took the Bijū's lull in attacking to cause great swathes of black flames to erupt all over the Hachibi's skin. Simultaneously, all the water in the area rose up and encompassed the Bijū, trapping it in what Fū guessed to be some sort of enlarged Water Prison Technique. Strangely, the black fire continued to burn the beast's skin, despite being underwater.

Though it was difficult to tell what was happening, Fū watched as Kisame stepped into the bubble of water, and soon enough the Hachibi was shrinking down in size. Water splashed down into the valley of mountains as the forms of two humans became distinguishable – the Hachibi Jinchūriki and Kisame. _NOW THAT YOU HAVE ASSISTED THE ENEMY IN ACCOMPLISHING THEIR TASK,_ rasped the Nanabi acidly, _PERHAPS YOU WILL FINALLY HEED MY ADVICE AND _LEAVE.

_Yeah…I think it's time to go. Bounties to turn in, after all,_ she thought, patting the side of her cylinder, where the scroll containing a plethora of sealed corpses was hidden.

_FOOLISH GIRL…YOU WILL COME TO REGRET THIS MISTAKE._

_We'll see._ Then she took off, crossing the mountains as quickly as possible.

Blood-red and beady yellow eyes followed her path as she left. "Should we follow her?"

Itachi was silent for a long moment. "No," he replied at last. "She is not our assignment." Unspoken, the Uchiha mused that Fū's escape would prolong the amount of time he had to work up a plan to save Naruto from an unnecessary death. Missing-nin, who roamed the world by their very nature, were far more difficult to track down than shinobi belonging to villages, such as the Hachibi Jinchūriki. The amount of time it had taken Kakuzu to find the Rokubi Jinchūriki was proof enough of that. All he could hope was that Fū and Naruto could endure until he could arrive at a solution. "Come," he intoned at his partner, "we must contact Leader-sama and have Zetsu bring the body to base before he awakens. I have no desire to restrain the Hachibi a second time."

"Heh, as you say, Itachi. Personally, that was the most fun I've had in awhile."

The raven-haired male didn't respond – Kisame's definition of 'fun' had always been a bit peculiar – blood-red eyes flickering once more in the direction Fū had disappeared in. _Survive._

-l-l-l-

Naruto sat at one of the many round, wooden tables in the bar, back to the rest of the patrons. Mildly irritated, he took to stirring his tonic water with his straw, ears pricked for the indication of interesting or informative conversation. Even if he could drink alcohol – he was still underage, though a quick _**Henge**_ would render that fact inconsequential – he would rather remain sober by not imbibing. Keeping his faculties about him was extraordinarily important while deep within enemy territory.

Despite having eagerly agreed to Pein's request, Naruto had become extremely grumpy since infiltrating the Hidden Rain, a task that had been surprisingly difficult to accomplish. Years of warfare and invasion had taught the citizens to be wary of any outsiders, and the borders of the small nation were constantly under surveillance. Hanzō's legendary paranoia probably lent some explanation to the heavy guard as well.

Eventually, he had opted into using _**Mizugakure no Jutsu**_ to slip into one of the drainage streams leaving the Hidden Rain. Travel against the flow of liquid had been slow-going, but he had managed to slip into the village undetected after some time. That had led to him wandering the village in an attempt to get any relevant information to accomplish what Pein had asked of him.

Most of his irritability stemmed from the simple misery that Amegakure exuded. Aptly named, rain never seemed to stop falling in the village (or the country, for that matter), and the relentless downpour made roaming the streets an unpleasant venture. Displeased with the climate, Naruto had walked into the first shop he'd found (after taking off his slashed _hitae-ate _and using _**Henge**_ to alter his hair color) and bought a rain slicker to toss over his clothes. As he had continued to meander around the Hidden Rain, he had wondered why Pein would even _want_ to liberate a place that was so steeped in despondency.

He took a quick sip of his drink in an attempt draw his thoughts away from something so depressing. Perhaps that was exactly _why_ Pein wanted to take over Amegakure – to provide a better opportunity for the people of his homeland.

Not that he knew exactly what the orange-haired man could do to improve the lives of the denizens of the Hidden Rain, but it certainly seemed logical. He could sort of empathize with that feeling.

Before he had left Pein's tower in Otogakure, Konan had approached him with a small book. She had informed him in a rather bland voice that continuous combing of Orochimaru's archives had revealed a small source of information on the Uzumaki clan, and all of it was contained in the text now in his hands. Naruto had left the Hidden Sound with a quiet but appreciate thanks for the blue-haired woman, blue eyes already delving into the history of the family he had never known. His reading had revealed Uzushiogakure, the former home of his clan, and in a decision driven more by curiosity and emotion than sensibility, he had opted into a detour to the land of his ancestors (after receiving the bounty on Utakata, of course).

The destruction that had greeted his eyes hadn't been all that pleasant to view; the Village Hidden in Whirlpools was nothing but collapsed buildings and flowing water. Naruto wondered if it was strange that the sight of his ancestors' homeland didn't stir up any feelings in him, but then chalked up his apathy to a lack of attachment to his clan. The name 'Uzumaki' didn't really mean anything to him, merely serving as a surname; Fū had never revealed her family name and Kakuzu had renounced his, so what should he care for his?

Still, he had thought, sparing one last glance for Uzushiogakure, maybe with his newly offered potential for a life after Pein's plans came to fruition, the Hidden Whirlpools would have something to offer. It might be nice to have a base of operations for him and Fū to live out of…

Naruto jabbed his straw into his glass harder than strictly necessary, ridding himself of the memory. He was getting ahead of himself, and he had a job to do.

The scraping of chairs behind him alerted him to the fact that the two shinobi he had been eavesdropping on were leaving. He waited a moment before throwing several coins on the table to cover his drink and then followed them out, immediately pulling the hood of his rain slicker over his head as he left the bar. Disappearing into an alley, he cloaked himself in the Hiding in Camouflage Technique and took off after the pair.

Amegakure, aside from being rainy _all the damn time_, was also a very confusing place. Metal skyscrapers were built practically on top of each other, all with twisting mazes of pipes trailing from top to bottom along their sides. Combined with the constant downpour, the dull grey metal of the buildings only added to the dreariness that the Hidden Rain emanated. The closeness of the skyscrapers also created thin streets to walk on, and there was little in the way of awnings to escape from the rain; dark corners and slim alleyways were commonplace, providing a plethora of hiding places for anyone willing or able to squeeze into them. If he wasn't a ninja, Naruto might've been worried about getting mugged.

The blonde scowled slightly as he walked along. Though Pein had told him there was someone for him to connect with already in Amegakure, he had neglected to give any more information, and Naruto had forgotten to ask. Finding the man had been his priority, but with nothing to go off of, achieving that objective was as likely as finding a needle in a haystack.

Naruto released a strangled gurgle as a kunai was buried into his chest. "What…?" he managed, the _**Meisaigakure no Jutsu**_ fading around him as he collapsed to the ground.

"You might be invisible," spoke an Ame-nin, his form wavering into place from the surrounding rain, "but the water droplets are still hitting you. It's easy for any trained shinobi to notice when a certain area isn't being pelted by rain in Amegakure. We don't take kindly to strangers here."

_Okay, didn't think of that,_ Naruto admitted. _Damn new terrain…who the _hell _wants to live here, anyway?_ He could already feel his earth heart moving to take the place of his ruined wind one. Distantly, he could hear the same Ame-nin ordering some others to check for any sort of identification or partners, as well as the Bingo Book for any outstanding bounty on his head. _Ugh, and wouldn't that be an ironic end?_

He ran through a mental tally of what he could do in his head. With all the rain, he was unlikely to be able to use his fire jutsu effectively, and the metal structures and lack of wide space eliminated earth jutsu as well. Given the destruction Storm Release was likely to cause, that was also out. That left lightning, water, and wind, not to mention _**Jiongu**_. Subtly, he formed hand signs beneath his body, channeling his chakra into the puddles sitting in the cobblestone path. _**Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri**__; Water Release: Rising Water Slicer!_

An arc of water rose up, ready to bisect the Ame-nin, but there was a shout that alerted him to the ninjutsu and he dodged at the last second. He gave Naruto a hard stare as the blonde climbed to his feet. "You should be dead."

"You'll discover it's a lot harder to kill me than that," the Jinchūriki returned, yanking the kunai from his chest and letting it clatter to the ground. As _**Jiongu**_ stitched together the wound, he noticed that there was a distinct lack of civilians around, though he was surrounded by a dozen Ame-nin. _…This seems familiar,_ he thought, uncomfortably aware that Kakuzu had been killed in much the same fashion.

Apparently, the shinobi of the Rain were more business-like than he had assumed, for they all disappeared in a wavering haze without responding. _…Freaking genjutsu,_ he snarled, remembering Itachi's lessons. He immediately set about dispelling the illusions, but for every one that he managed to release himself from, two more popped into existence. Meanwhile, he could feel a variety of different blades biting into his skin, and the Earth Spear technique was activated reflexively to protect himself from the nuisances.

Water swirled beneath his feet, and the blonde found himself suddenly restrained by eight thick tendrils of liquid that twirled around his neck, arms, legs, and torso. It was highly reminiscent of the way he had killed many people in his adventures, and he felt a momentary pang of empathy for his victims. _This kinda sucks._

"_**Suiton: Takohoryū no Jutsu**_," whispered the voice of the same Ame-nin. Based on how quiet the voice was, Naruto noted that he was smart enough not to get too close, a fact which caused his respect for the shinobi of the Hidden Rain to rise marginally. "You'll be unable to move and cast jutsu."

_People keep telling me that…I wonder if I just have a face that doesn't scream 'I have a powerful kinjutsu that makes all your restraining techniques completely ineffective'._ The blonde pondered that for a moment before shrugging it off as unimportant, focusing instead on breaking free of the bindings before the Ame-nin decided to break his neck. _Ah well…pity I won't be able to see the surprise on his face when he's proven wrong._ A pair of black whips burst out of each sleeve; imbued with wind chakra, they sliced through the watery grasp of the Octopus Hold Technique and rotated perpendicular to his body in an insidious impression of a buzz saw. There was a scream of pain, though Naruto was a bit let down to note that that timbre of the voice wasn't the same as the Ame-nin who kept talking to him. _Shame._

Still unable to see his enemies because of whatever illusions they kept putting him under, Naruto opted to let _**Jiongu**_ seek his enemies and destroy them. It wasn't nearly as gratifying as accomplishing the deed himself, but he needed to get away and reestablish some modicum of cover as soon as possible. Hanzō would undoubtedly try to scour the entirety of Amegakure in lieu of the loss of his forces, and Naruto needed a place where he could hunker down and wait for an opportunity to return to his mission to open up. There were two more yells as his kinjutsu located and eviscerated opponents; Naruto briefly considered taking one of their hearts to replace his wind one, but then decided he didn't want to go through the hassle while in the middle of such a predicament.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes were drawn to a thin, almost invisible surge of blue-white light that flashed past his field of vision and lanced into the thin air thirty feet to his left. An accompanying scream was the only notice that it had passed through an Ame-nin before electricity arced out in several directions from the still-invisible body, creating a web of what he recognized as lightning chakra with him at the center. When the lightning disappeared, Naruto found that the illusions were all gone, and the dead bodies of a dozen Rain shinobi littered the ground, only a couple leaking blood from where he'd sliced into them with wind chakra; the red liquid was quickly becoming diluted by the constant downpour and growing puddles of Amegakure. He was distracted by the sound of someone landing behind him. Black tendrils snapped to attention, but Naruto paused in his assault when he took in the appearance of the person.

The male before him wore the black pants and slate grey, long-sleeved shirt of an Amegakure Jōnin, bandages wrapped around his wrists and ankles; a much lighter grey scarf was looped around his neck, and the four vertical lines denoting a member of the Hidden Rain decorated his _hitae-ate_. Cobalt blue hair fell around his ears, but his bangs barely tickled his eyebrows, leaving stormy, grey eyes clearly visible. Naruto noted with some amusement that the other teenager was now an inch shorter than his own height of 5'8" and looked even paler than the last time they'd seen each other.

Harō gave the blonde an amused smirk, replacing the twin katana _**Kiba**_ to their holster on his back. "Hello, Naruto…or perhaps I should call you Shinobu? Still getting into trouble, I see."

Naruto rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "You have no idea."

-l-l-l-

Nagato was grateful that it took very little concentration to actually keep both the _**Gentōshin no Jutsu**_ and _**Fūinjutsu: Genryū Kyūfūjin**_ active. Both were essentially self-sustaining techniques after the initial activation as long as chakra was fed into them…or, perhaps more accurately, as long as there was chakra _to be_ fed into them. For the most part, both techniques just siphoned chakra from the users so long as they needed to be kept active. Either way, it allowed for his mind to wander – and simultaneously ignore Hidan's inane rants, Tobi's nattering, and Deidara's proclamations about art – and focus on the decision he had made regarding Naruto as the Hachibi was sealed within the _**Gedō Mazō**_.

Naruto truly was a rather intriguing individual. In many ways, the boy was a sort of kindred spirit to himself, not to mention a slight reminder of Yahiko. Aside from Konan, he was one of the few people Nagato knew of who had experienced the true definition of pain (Konan knew it well from the keen loss of Yahiko). Such a quality was so rare that sacrificing him for the statue was practically counterintuitive to the message he wanted to send the rest of the world.

Not to mention that, in spite of himself, Nagato was a little curious to see how far his family member – no matter how distantly related they might be – would go in life.

It was truly unfortunate that, out of all the people in the world, Naruto had been the one to be saddled with the burden of the Kyūbi. Then again, for the boy to have turned against the village he was born in and then work with people who could be considered his enemies was truly a stroke of fortune. Given the results, Nagato's decision to keep an eye on Kakuzu as a potential recruit to Akatsuki all those years ago had turned out to be a very good one.

Nagato wasn't stupid or naïve enough to believe that the core members of Akatsuki would remain once his true plans came to fruition. They were all S-class missing-nin, and with the exception of Konan, all of them were far more interested in murder, mayhem, and destruction than in world peace, no matter how it was achieved. Hidan would return to trying to spread his religion, Sasori would continue to pull strings in all the villages and collect more humans to increase his puppet collection, Kakuzu would go back to bounty hunting for profit…it was the most logical conclusion that everyone would return to what they were doing before joining Akatsuki.

But Naruto (and Fū, to a lesser extent) was different. The boy clearly held an attachment to Kakuzu, and it was possible that he would follow in his mentor's footsteps if allowed to live. However, given Kakuzu's personality, the likelihood of the two thread-users traveling together seemed small. Naruto understood some aspect of how Pein operated and thought, and it was possible that after his revenge against Konoha was sated, he would be willing to work for the benefit of Amegakure (once Hanzō was dead, of course). It was this that made him and the girl (who was likely to follow him) valuable. While sealing the Nanabi and the Kyūbi into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path would certainly grant Akatsuki more power, keeping two trained Jinchūriki with their respective Bijū bolstered Nagato's forces immensely more than killing them.

There were ways around their death, of course. As a wielder of the Rinnegan, Nagato could simply use _**Gedō: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu**_ to revive both Naruto and Fū after extracting their Bijū, but there were issues with that. For one, the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique required a simply _ridiculous_ amount of chakra and energy, and Nagato was already in poor enough health as it was. He doubted that it would outright kill him to bring back a mere two people, but given his already shortened lifespan, that option was less than optimal. Not to mention that the reincarnated Jinchūriki would be short their Bijū, and thus less powerful and less useful than they could be otherwise. And while there might be ways to reseal the Bijū into their hosts from the _**Gedō Mazō**_, doing so seemed highly counterproductive; keeping Naruto and Fū alive was just easier and more sensible.

But keeping them alive had its own problem – namely, Uchiha Madara, the man beneath Tobi's mask.

Neither Konan nor Nagato trusted the supposed co-founder of Konohagakure; he was simply providing them a means to an end with the Bijū. But now that the red-haired man had come up with an alternative method of enacting his own plan, his and Madara's goals were at odds. The man hadn't explained why it was absolutely vital that all of the Bijū be sealed within the statue, but Nagato knew that there was no way to dissuade him from that objective. It made him highly suspicious of the Uchiha's motives, especially since he had pitched the idea of a kinjutsu that could do all they desired without sealing the Nanabi and the Kyūbi, and Madara had shot it down. If his true goal was aligned with the fake one Nagato had set up for the other Akatsuki members (or even his own goal), then there should've been no reason for the Uchiha to reject the proposition. After all, if he had accepted, they could've used the kinjutsu almost immediately after sealing the Hachibi.

But given that Madara had insisted on the remaining two Bijū and Nagato knew they weren't needed – and in fact were better off to him within their containers – the Uzumaki finally had a reason to go against the other man's plans.

The body of the Hachibi Jinchūriki hit the floor of the cavern with a dull thump. Pein blinked his ringed eyes once. "Our task is almost completed," he announced. "Zetsu, find the girl and report back when you've done so…the Nanabi must be sealed before the Kyūbi."

"We're so close! **Celebrate later. We have work to do."**

The plant-man's image fizzled out. "The rest of you, continue on with gathering funds." There was a brief curse from Hidan about how blasphemous such an action was, but Pein ignored it. "We will reconvene when the Nanabi is ready to be sealed." The other members took that as a sign of dismissal, their projections fizzling into nothingness.

Konan's image remained lit. "You're sure you want to do this?"

"Yes. It is clear that our ideals no longer align, and we are a mere step away from completing our objective." Pein focused and reactivated the Magic Lantern Body Technique, making sure to resonate the jutsu with only a handful of rings.

In short order, the multicolored forms of Kakuzu, Hidan, Itachi, and Kisame were standing in their respective positions upon the _**Gedō Mazō**_'s fingertips. "What the hell?" Hidan voiced in irritation. "Why are we back here?"

"I have a special assignment for the four of you and Konan. There is a member within our ranks whose views no longer agree with Akatsuki's, and he must be eliminated."

"Who is the target?" Kakuzu inquired.

Grey eyes flickered over to him. "Tobi."

"Khe heh, I'll almost be a little sad to see him go," Kisame snickered, sharp teeth bared in a smirk. "He brought a bit of light into this gloomy organization."

"Where are the artist fags?" Hidan cut in.

"I don't believe they have the same stake in this mission as the rest of you do," Pein responded. His eyes once more met Kakuzu's, and the bounty hunter inclined his head in understanding. Pein knew that Kakuzu would fight for Naruto's right to live, and Hidan would fight alongside him simply for the opportunity to shed blood (and not have to collect money). Itachi and Kisame were a bit risky to trust, but given that both had taught the blonde at different points, he was relying on the two having forged some sort of connection with Naruto to motivate them to fight against Tobi. Deidara and Sasori had no such history with the boy.

From his periphery, Pein thought he caught the slightest narrowing of Itachi's blood-red eyes. The Uchiha was even more difficult to read than Kakuzu, his body language and vocal intonation giving nothing away. It was impossible to tell whether the Uchiha was insulted at the prospect of having to take down a fellow member of Akatsuki, or excited for the opportunity to once more measure his capacity. "You will all have to remain close to Otogakure in order to be prepared to partake in this assignment. Konan will be in charge of coordination, and she will brief you all on what to expect."

As the blue-haired woman began to talk, Pein once more allowed his mind to drift. He was doing the right thing. Naruto was too much like both himself and Yahiko to just die when he had the potential to be so much more. The orange-haired man could only hope that, while he freed Amegakure from its current leader, the combined might of Konan, Kakuzu, Hidan, Kisame, and Itachi would be enough to destroy the entity calling himself Uchiha Madara.

Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi listened with only half an ear to Konan's explanation of Tobi's abilities, only one thought in mind.

_Finally._

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Things of note: Just in case it's not clear, Naruto's five hearts are: wind, lightning, fire, earth, and storm, but he can use the water element both from his own skill and by pulling on the storm heart. Also, how many people were surprised by Fū's assistance and/or Harō's return?

In addition, and THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, it should be noted that I created the plot for this story long before certain revelations were made about certain characters (Zetsu and Tobi). I'm not sure if this will happen, but just to preempt any people pointing out inaccuracies, please keep in mind as the next chapter comes to pass that these characters will not follow the most recent canon revelations; Zetsu is opportunistic and will work for the highest bidder, Tobi is just a shinobi with phasing abilities who calls himself Madara, and the summoning of the Jūbi is more complicated than has been depicted thus far.

Anyway, thanks to all the people who reviewed the last chapter! Please let me know what you think of this one, especially now that we're approaching the end.


	20. Usurpation

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

REMINDER: This is NOT canon!Tobi as he's been revealed. Any revelations past Tobi's fight with Danzō's goons will be ignored, including how the Jūbi is summoned. I've also taken some liberties with how his phasing operates, because otherwise I have no idea how to kill him.

-l-l-l-

"So…what've you figured out?"

Harō fixed Naruto with a curious look. He remained standing as the blonde took a seat on the floor of the tower he had led them to, the same tower he'd been using as his base of operations for the past several months. "Not that I'm ungrateful to see you or anything," he began, "but why are you here?"

Naruto put his elbow on his knee and placed his chin in the palm of his right hand. "I'm your backup."

A snort was the response to his glibness. "Some backup you are, needing to be rescued."

The blonde muttered something unpleasant under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'fucking genjutsu'. "Look, Pein asked me to come here and help you gather intelligence and dwindle down Hanzō's forces so that when he comes – which, by the way, sounds like he'll be doing pretty soon – he won't have to deal with any of the small fries."

"…Pein-sama is finally prepared to liberate Amegakure?"

"Apparently. So, if you'd be so kind as to share…" Naruto gestured.

Harō settled down cross-legged. "See that tower over there?" he asked, pointing to a structure in the distance that rose just slightly above all the rest.

"The tallest one? Yeah."

"That's where Hanzō lives. I assume you had a bit of difficulty sneaking into the village because of all the patrols, right?" At Naruto's nod, he continued, "Well, Hanzō's tower is under the same kind of constant surveillance…only more efficient. Even in Amegakure, his paranoia is legendary…he doesn't come out to speak to the citizens, and everyone that goes to see him is thoroughly checked by his guards."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "If he's so security-conscious and paranoid, how'd you learn all of this? I doubt you were able to just go up to him and just ask."

The cobalt-haired male smirked. "You'd be surprised what you hear on the streets when you actually blend in." Naruto grumbled a little, but didn't say anything. "Hanzō's reputation is pretty impressive here in Ame. Not that that condones what he's done…"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto said, waving off his companion's words. It had been enough listening to Harō preach his beliefs back in the Chūnin Exams; he didn't need a reminder of the cobalt-haired male's zeal for Pein's ideals. He climbed to his feet. "Anyway, since you know more about this place than I do, I'm perfectly content to relegate the leadership position to you. So what's our next move?"

Harō also stood. "If Pein-sama is coming soon, then we should figure out all that we can about Hanzō's security by staking out the tower. Maybe we can get a better grasp of what sort of numbers we can expect, or the skills of his guards."

Naruto nodded. "Sounds good."

Time passed slowly when it consisted of squatting in only a couple of places, trying to get a working idea of how Amegakure's security operated while not getting caught. After five days of little results, Naruto and Harō – sitting in Harō's base, on a break from their routine of watching Hanzō's tower – were accosted by an orange-haired man with a fringe of hair on the right side of his face and the rest held in a high ponytail. The black piercings and ringed, grey eyes were telling, even if the rest of the man's appearance was unusual. "Pein?" Naruto hazarded.

"Yes."

Harō murmured a polite 'Pein-sama' as Naruto gazed at Akatsuki's leader curiously. "What…" he began, wondering as to his appearance, but then shook his head. "You know what? I don't think I care enough."

"I once told you there were many forms of pain," the older shinobi stated. "There are also many forms of Pein." Naruto groaned a little at the wordplay; he hated riddles and the like. "Where is Hanzō?" Pein continued.

"The tower," Harō replied, pointing.

"Guards?"

"Four in his room at all times. More on the floors below."

"Hmm…you two will come with me," Pein decided. "While I deal with Hanzō, you will prevent any interference from those loyal to him."

"Cool," Naruto stated, cracking his knuckles as Harō unsheathed _**Kiba**_. The two teenagers followed Pein out, and it only took a number of minutes before they were on the building opposite the windowless tower Hanzō housed himself in. "So how do we get in?"

Pein flipped through hand signs and then placed his palm flat upon the roof of their building. The spiky-haired visage of the man Naruto was used to dealing with appeared in a cloud of smoke. Naruto blinked, muttering, "…Right…this makes sense…"

"Perhaps one day you will understand," said the spiky-haired Pein. "Now is not that time." He held out both hands so that the palms were facing Hanzō's building. "_**Banshō Ten'in**_," he intoned.

There was a loud screeching of metal that lasted several seconds before a massive chunk was ripped from the side of the structure. Two Ame-nin leaped out of the opening, but Harō crossed his twin katana together and uttered, "_**Raiton: Raiga**_." Blue bolts of electricity arced out and struck the Rain shinobi squarely in the chest.

Naruto was already running through hand signs and inhaling a deep breath of air as the remaining two guards appeared in the hole Pein had created. "_**Fūton: Shinkū Renpa**_; Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves." Slices of wind at varying angles burst forth from his mouth and entered the tower, making small grooves in the metal as they passed and shedding the blood of the Ame-nin.

Hanzō appeared after a moment, stepping over the corpses of his men, his strange eyes reminding Naruto eerily of Kakuzu. "You," he stated, looking at the spiky-haired Pein. "I had thought you dead."

More ninja were rushing up the stairs to stand behind Hanzō as backup. Pein remained unfazed. "You thought wrong," he returned, "and now your time has come."

Some unspoken understanding passed through the leaders of the two Hidden Rain factions. At the same moment, an instant before they jumped to take their battle deeper into Amegakure, both men ordered, "Kill them."

Naruto and Harō were suddenly left facing a small force of Hanzō's personal army. Lightning crackled in the sky as Harō manipulated one of the weapons of the legendary Seven Shinobi Swordsmen; wind swirled in a deadly storm with Naruto at the eye. The two boys exchanged wry grins, and then let loose their attacks.

"_**Raitō Jutsu: Rakurai!**_"

"_**Fūton: Fūryūdan no Jutsu!**_"

Blood painted the walls of Hanzō's private tower.

-l-l-l-

Kakuzu resisted the urge to growl as Tobi's body phased through yet another attack, Hidan falling through the masked man and getting sliced by the wind from a _**Fūton: Atsugai**_. The thread-user would've never guessed upon his inception that Tobi would've been such an accomplished shinobi given his personality (though he supposed that the man had to have some skill to warrant becoming a member of Akatsuki), but the evidence spoke for itself. His mastery of space-time ninjutsu – techniques Kakuzu had written off as all but rumors, barring the Summoning Technique – was extraordinarily impressive, and even more aggravating. Konan's brief rundown of Tobi's abilities had only slightly prepared him for what the reality entailed.

He had, rather unfortunately, lost his fire heart to the other shinobi almost immediately after the battle had begun, the thread-creature having been sucked into some alternate dimension while the five S-class missing-nin had tried to work around each other. That, however, had been the only heart he'd lost thus far after choosing to recall all but the wind heart, which was zipping around out of Tobi's reach, too fast for him to catch.

The fight had eventually settled into a sort of cat-and-mouse game between the five Akatsuki members and Tobi. An outsider could tell that the quintet was unused to working with each other, though Hidan's and Kakuzu's teamwork was as seamless as usual, as was Itachi's and Kisame's (limited though it had been thus far). The problem, Kakuzu thought, was that while they were all strong in their own right, Tobi wasn't a shinobi of strength, and there wasn't much crossover in abilities amongst the quintet. S-class nukenin were, by nature, arrogant and resistant to working together.

Still, they had managed to work out a strategy that, while having no success thus far, still gave them the best shot of coming out victorious.

Hidan, with his preferred method of fighting, was serving as a sort of distraction in a very frontal assault, attempting to lure Tobi into an attack. If his scythe ever connected, the battle would essentially be over, but given Tobi's phasing abilities, that outcome was a fool's dream at best. The silver-haired man was covered by Kakuzu (and his thread-creature), who either lashed out with threads or expelled bursts of water, wind, or lightning whenever Tobi tried to absorb Hidan into what Konan had only been able to describe vaguely as an alternate dimension. In any other situation, the old thread-user might've been overjoyed at finding a method to rid himself of Hidan, but given the circumstances, he knew it was better to keep defending his partner, hoping to hit Tobi in the moment the masked man was tangible.

Konan was hovering in the air with the aid of large paper wings, sharp eyes keeping watch over the battlefield. In contrast to Hidan's pure offense and Kakuzu's mixed offense/defense, the blue-haired woman was serving as backup to anyone Tobi tried to sneak up on, sniping at the masked man with paper weapons.

Kakuzu found himself grudgingly grateful for her presence, as she'd already protected him and Itachi once each, and Kisame twice. It was difficult to see in the dim light of the cavern beneath Otogakure, where the sealing rituals were normally performed, though the spacious environment and reinforced rock meant that the thread-user could let loose with whatever attacks he wanted and not have to worry about bringing down the place. Kisame – the other offensive fighter – had also taken advantage of the large area by using massive _**Suiton **_attacks like the Exploding Water Colliding Wave and the Great Waterfall Technique to change the terrain to his advantage; at least a foot of water covered the entire floor of the cavern. Itachi had so far done very little but observe quietly from a corner, though he had stepped in when he deemed it necessary.

The nonagenarian wondered if the Uchiha was waiting for an opening, or if, despite his renowned skill, he just didn't have the massive chakra capacities that he and Kisame boasted. Genjutsu wasn't a particularly chakra-intensive branch of ninja techniques, and Itachi's focus on that art could be explained by a lower-than-average stamina.

Threads speared outwards from his back, preventing Tobi from grabbing him by forcing him to phase through the attack. As the masked man fell through his torso, Kakuzu returned his mind to the battlefield, deciding that trying to analyze his fellow nukenin wasn't a good idea when fighting for his life.

Not to mention the lives of his pupils.

Sharks rose out of the water as Tobi landed. They passed through him harmlessly, through both Tobi and Kakuzu turned their attention to Kisame, who was kneeling, holding one palm to the liquid covering the floor. The masked shinobi ran towards the blue-skinned man, and Kakuzu used his control of water to erect several walls of the hardened substance in Tobi's path. While he merely passed through them, Kisame brought Samehada to bear.

Kisame sidestepped Tobi's grab, bringing the bandaged sword through his torso as he did so. Predictably, the masked shinobi allowed the weapon to phase through him. In the silence as Samehada finished sliding through its target, there was the smallest of ripping sounds.

A murder of crows descended upon Tobi before he could recover, giving Kisame a chance to move back towards his partner. "Kisame," Itachi intoned.

"Heh, got it, Itachi," replied the taller man.

Kakuzu pushed down a brief flash of envy at their camaraderie; why couldn't he have gotten a partner that spoke as little as Itachi and could still manage to convey everything that needed to be said? Better yet, why did he have to have a partner at all? Speaking of which…

"Oi, where'd that little shit go?"

Kakuzu glanced over in the direction of Itachi and Kisame. Sure enough, Tobi had disappeared, probably by turning intangible and melding through the floor again. He wondered if the masked shinobi had decided to flee the battle, but decided that if he hadn't done so yet, then he probably wouldn't at all. Tobi was oddly confident in his abilities, though given what they were, he probably had a right to be. Even multiple hearts wouldn't save Kakuzu from being sucked into some sort of alternate dimension if Tobi managed to lay a lucky hand on him.

"Your attacks are remarkably well-coordinated," echoed a deep voice from nowhere. Kakuzu realized that the speaker was probably Tobi, though the tone was completely at odds with the playful, idiotic disposition the man had displayed throughout his tenure in Akatsuki. It was no wonder Pein wanted to get rid of him, if everything so far had merely been a clever façade. "I admit that this betrayal is quite a surprise. I imagine that Pein put you all up to this task."

Kakuzu shot a look Hidan's way, fully expecting the silver-haired man to reply to that. Surprisingly, the Jashinist didn't respond, instead glancing around warily while holding his scythe in a defensive position. _Hidan must be taking this task seriously, to not even be uttering the drivel he usually does._ That was good…idle hands were more likely to be useless and die. His wind heart was zipping around above his partner's head, ready to defend him, and Konan was tensed in midair with several paper projectiles formed around her.

"If any of you are willing to renounce your allegiance, I would be willing to offer you a niche in my new world," Tobi's voice resounded. There was silence for a long moment, broken by the man's rhetorical, "No takers? Very well…I suppose it is time to do away with all of you."

Tobi appeared from the ground before Kakuzu, reaching out a hand and grabbing the taller ninja by the throat. Instead of retaliating, Kakuzu allowed himself to feel the tug of being pulled into another dimension. When it appeared as if his entire torso was going to disappear, his form lost cohesion and turned into water.

Kisame took the time his fellow nukenin had granted him and held out his hands, the heels of his palms held close together. "_**Suiton: Daikōdan no Jutsu!**_"

A monstrous shark made entirely of water was thrust from his hands, its maw opened to close over Tobi. The masked man activated his phasing ability to allow him to pass through the liquid creature, but part of the way through, it became apparent that he was being carried along by the fish's momentum.

Simultaneously, orange-red chakra flared to life around Itachi, encasing him in the form of an ethereal warrior. A blazing yellow sword appeared in one of its right hands, and as Kisame's shark splashed into water, the weapon lanced out and pierced Tobi's midsection. "You possess the Sword of Totsuka?" Tobi gasped. "How…?"

"Your space-time ninjutsu uses chakra to make your body immaterial," Itachi intoned. "This became apparent when Samehada passed through you, but absorbed enough chakra to make a rip in your cloak at the end. Kisame drained your chakra with his ninjutsu, allowing me to stab your now-tangible body with the Totsuka blade. Now you will live in an eternal genjutsu, and your machinations will no longer affect the world."

Tobi couldn't say anything else as he was drawn into the gourd in the warrior's other right hand. The flames of chakra disappeared from around Itachi, and he subtly wiped a trail of blood away from his eye. "He will be of no concern any longer," he informed the others, watching Kakuzu rise from the water covering the floor.

"I will inform Pein that our mission has been accomplished," Konan stated, withdrawing her wings and moving towards the exit.

Hidan made a noise of disappointment, kicking at the water around his feet. "Not even a fucking body to sacrifice to Jashin-sama."

Kakuzu rolled his eyes as his wind heart returned to him. He picked up his cloak – which he had tossed aside at the beginning of the battle – and wrung the water from it, throwing it over his shoulder. "Come, Hidan," he beckoned, following Konan out, "I feel rather…charitable. Perhaps you can find enough sacrifices to appease your god at the Konoha outpost we will visit." _I need a new fire heart anyway._

"Ha! I knew you'd come around eventually, Kakuzu, you old bastard!"

The thread-user waited for Hidan to go ahead of him before addressing Itachi and Kisame. "Your help in this matter was greatly appreciated." He wouldn't admit that without the chakra-absorbing properties of Kisame's technique, or the sealing ability of Itachi's, he, Hidan, and Konan would've been unlikely to actually beat Tobi by themselves.

"Keh heh, Fishbait's an interesting kid. I'd be interested in seeing how far he's come since our last fight."

Itachi merely nodded at Kakuzu before adding, "His life is his own now."

_How very true, _Kakuzu thought, leaving the pair behind.

-l-l-l-

Pein returned to the tower that Hanzō had formerly inhabited through the hole he had blown in the side, using the Deva Path as his representative once again. Naruto and Harō stood stiffly at attention, and if either one was interested in commenting on the fact that Pein was back to using the spiky-haired body, neither mentioned it. "Amegakure is free," he announced.

"Congratulations, Pein-sama," Harō murmured, bowing slightly.

The orange-haired man inclined his head in acknowledgement of his subordinate. "There are still things to be taken care of, but that will come later. There are other matters which require attending." Ringed eyes fixed Naruto with an unwavering gaze. "Zetsu found your associate crossing the Earth Country border into Stone Country. I would like you to bring her here. She will be much more receptive to your presence than Zetsu's or any other Akatsuki member's."

Naruto didn't doubt that. "Sure thing." He left as Pein's attention swiveled to Harō, discussing what needed to be done while they awaited his return, which included cleaning the tower of the blood and corpses of Hanzō's followers.

Stone Country's proximity to Rain Country and its small size meant that it took only half a day to actually get there and begin searching for Fū. Naruto summoned a couple of chameleons to hasten the process along, sending them out in different directions with the order to find his fellow Jinchūriki, but to return to the Ame-Ishi border in two days regardless of what they found.

The blonde was disappointed when he didn't find her, but upon rendezvousing with his summons, found Fū in the company of Kamekoso. "Hey," he called, lifting a hand in greeting as the reptiles dismissed themselves. A smile alit upon his features of its own accord.

Fū returned the gesture with a tentative curve of her own lips. "Hey." There was a moment of silence as the two just stared at each other, the memory of the last time they were together surfacing in their minds. "You wanted to see me?"

Naruto blinked, the spell broken. "Oh…yeah. Pein wants to see us. We've gotta get back to Amegakure."

"Um…isn't that _bad_?"

The blonde paused for a moment before a snort of laughter escaped him. "Oh, right, you didn't hear. He's not going to take the Bijū…he found a way to achieve his plans without killing us."

Fū remained skeptical. "How do you know he's telling the truth?"

"I don't," Naruto shrugged, "but the only reason I found you is because Zetsu found you first, so I think if he wanted to capture us, he could've done it already."

That was a pretty fair point, Fū considered, continuing to stare at her friend. Naruto was simply standing there, waiting for her to come to a decision, and though she felt a little bad for her apprehension, she knew that this choice was the equivalent of walking into a lion's den. The blonde peered at her, a solemn look in his blue eyes. "Don't you trust me?"

Fū sighed to herself…it really wasn't fair that he could do that. _Of course I do…_

The return trip to Amegakure was filled with conversation of the adventures each Jinchūriki had undergone since their split. Neither wanted to dwell on the idea that Pein would betray them, or what was potentially between them when the future wasn't yet set in stone.

Pein and Harō were waiting for them when Naruto led Fū to the tower that Hanzō had kept himself isolated in. The massive hole was still there, and Naruto couldn't resist commenting, "You clearly haven't redecorated yet."

Neither of the grey-eyed males offered a response, though the blonde thought that he saw Harō roll his eyes. Pein turned around and walked towards the back of the room, where the steel walls of the tower were untouched. "There have been higher priorities," he mentioned. "Come." The two Jinchūriki exchanged glances before moving forward and coming to a stop just behind Akatsuki's leader. "If you would like to complete your quest for vengeance against Konohagakure, I require your assistance."

"What do you need?"

Pein glanced at Naruto. "The jutsu I have crafted utilizes the chakra of the Bijū to create mass destruction. Unfortunately, while controllable with only some of them, it becomes increasingly more potent in direct proportion to the amount of Bijū being used to power it. Therefore, I would ask you to sacrifice some of the chakra of your Bijū to help facilitate the Hidden Leaf's destruction. I also believe it would be more…satisfying for you to personally contribute to the annihilation of the village which has caused you so much grief," he added, catching Naruto's gaze.

"And how would you accomplish this?"

The orange-haired man reached into the opposite sleeve of his cloak and withdrew a foot-long black rod with a metallic sheen. "These are capable of siphoning the chakra of your Bijū and transmitting it into the sealing statue. It is a way to feed the statue the required chakra without a complete extraction."

The two Jinchūriki exchanged glances again. "Okay," Naruto assented, "we'll do it."

Pein nodded and motioned for them to position themselves with their backs to the wall. Harō, curious, came forward to stand beside his leader. "I will warn you that you will feel an excruciating pain unlike any you have felt before," Pein intoned.

"I think we can handle you putting those in our bodies, right?" Naruto asked Fū. The older girl merely nodded.

Pein stared at him for a moment, the tip of the first black rod poised over the boy's abdomen, where the seal holding the Kyūbi at bay was located. "That was not what I was referring to." He slid the rod into Naruto's skin with ease, like a hot knife through butter, and to the blonde's credit, he only winced slightly at the sensation. More rods were carefully inserted into his upper and lower arms, as well as his thighs and legs; the same process was repeated with Fū.

He took a single step backwards and peered at the girl before uttering, "Ah," as if struck by realization. Taking a step forward, he untied the slashed Waterfall _hitae-ate_ from her right bicep, wrapped the cloth around the metal, and then commanded, "Open." She did as he bid, and Pein slipped the forehead protector into her mouth; she bit down on it reflexively. He approached Naruto and went through the same motions. "A precaution," he assured them. To Harō, he said, "Watch them. Make sure the ritual remains uninterrupted." The cobalt-haired boy nodded, and then Pein left.

Minutes passed, forcing Naruto to wonder when Pein would begin activating whatever technique it was that he had come up with and why he had to leave to do so. Fū's muffled screaming cut off his train of thought. His own body began to heat up, as if fire filled his veins instead of blood. The Kyūbi's chakra – as much a part of him as his own chakra, blood, organs, and flesh because of the seal – was slowly being sucked out of his body. Were he capable of forming a cohesive thought, he would've been forced to admit that Pein had been right – it was the most excruciating agony he had ever been forced to endure.

Across Amegakure, the sound of two Jinchūriki having a part of their very being pulled from their bodies echoed in the ears of the newly-freed citizens.

-l-l-l-

Danzō was in a rather foul mood, though he refused to let it show outwardly. Tenzō had missed his last two scheduled check-ins, a feat that was unheard of in the man's ANBU career. It could only mean one thing.

He was dead.

That was a horribly frustrating conclusion to come to, given Tenzō's skill and special abilities. The loss of Hyūga Neji some time before that had been regrettable, though it wasn't as lamentable as the loss of the wood-user. Now, Danzō's one surefire tool to overcoming the Jinchūriki of the other Hidden Villages – the few that remained, anyway, given what limited information he had received on Akatsuki's movements – was gone, and without even the recaptured Kyūbi Jinchūriki as compensation.

Tenzō's death and the Kyūbi Jinchūriki's freedom didn't bode well for either Danzō or Konoha. The boy was clearly strong enough to defeat an elite ANBU, apparently without even having to draw on the Kyūbi's chakra, given that suppression of the Bijū would have significantly weakened him. For the boy to have left Konoha and never returned spoke of either severe distrust or dislike of the Village Hidden in Leaves. Danzō would have to begin drafting some more secure defensive measures than those already in place in order to prepare for whatever might come.

A massive pulse of chakra disrupted his thoughts, right before the windows of the Hokage's office exploded in a shower of glass. Danzō managed to replace himself with a chair on the opposite side of his desk, using the wooden construct as a shield to protect himself from the shards. One of his ROOT agents leapt down from the ceiling and knelt beside him. "Danzō-sama, are you injured?"

"No, but I want to know what that was." He stood up and looked outside the broken windows, and the sight before him caused his one visible eye to widen considerably.

An enormous bipedal, wooden-looking statue was rampaging through Konoha, though that appeared to be the least of their problems. Bijū – Danzō didn't know exactly how many, though he could see at least five different creatures – were wreaking havoc upon the Hidden Leaf Village, chains of golden chakra linked around their necks and leading to the strange statue. As he watched, a head of red fur spewed lava over the Konoha Hospital while a light bluish-white head expelled a wave of greenish-tinged liquid at the Academy building; the latter was dissolved within seconds.

Danzō jumped from the Hokage Tower just as a burst of wind struck it, vaporizing the upper levels instantaneously. The aged man looked up to find a large blue and green beetle with six wings and a whip-like seventh tail hovering overhead. Unlike the other Bijū he could see, this one seemed to be composed more of chakra than an actual, physical form, though he had little time to ponder on the difference before he was forced to move.

Konoha was a loss, he realized. Given his lifelong goal to unite all the shinobi in the world under Konoha's control, the thought was a rather depressing one. With Tenzō, it might've been possible to restrain a handful of the Bijū and maybe contain them, but without him, the likelihood of Konoha's forces being able to scrape together and fight off what appeared to be the entire armada of Tailed Beasts was practically zero. The Kyūbi's attack a little over 17 years ago had only been halted because of the Yondaime Hokage, and while Danzō was a more-than-capable fūinjutsu specialist, crafting so many seals within such a short time span while evading the Bijū and expecting to survive beyond the first one was impossible. His best option was to retreat and regroup his forces after Akatsuki – and he could safely assume that this was Akatsuki's doing – finished its business.

He began to undo the bolts on the braces of his suppressor seals, knowing that he would need to use Izanagi to even retain some hope of escaping. The process was cut short by an orange-red paw of pure chakra, and Danzō looked up to find the visage of the Kyūbi staring at him. Chakra arms rose from the ground and caught the elderly man, and Danzō was forced to sacrifice Shisui's eye to escape the clutches and run away.

The chakra form of the Kyūbi pursued, and after a brief chase that prevented him from undoing the braces on his arm, Shimura Danzō, Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure, was no more. Clouded over in death, his visible eye was blind to the sight of the remaining eight Bijū crafting black spheres of pure chakra and launching them at the village he had tried so hard to protect, razing it to the ground.

-l-l-l-

Pein returned to the inner sanctum of Amegakure's tallest tower to find Harō watching over the forms of Naruto and Fū. The cobalt-haired boy bowed respectfully to his leader, though his face held a healthy amount of concern for his companions. "Pein-sama…"

"Yes, I know." Ringed, grey eyes observed the two Jinchūriki passively. Both were pale and sweating profusely, inhaling air through their noses in short, ragged bursts. Heads of blonde and mint green were hung in exhaustion, and as he watched, the forehead protectors that had been placed in their mouths fell to the floor; saliva dripped slowly from the mouths of the two Jinchūriki. "Your resilience is most impressive."

"_Hah…hah…_yeah," rasped Naruto without ever looking up. He chuckled weakly, but his amusement quickly broke off into a long series of hacking coughs. Beside him, Fū only groaned.

"Your sacrifice was most appreciated," Pein informed them. He asked Harō to fetch some food and water before approaching the wall the two Jinchūriki were pinned to. Black rods were pulled out of flesh and dropped to the floor with a clatter; both teenagers followed when all the rods had been removed, landing gracelessly on hands and knees. Fū allowed her entire body to slide into a boneless heap, laying belly-down on the cool metal. Naruto tried to lift himself up, but moaned at the effort and instead flopped onto his back, eyes closed. Harō returned with a bowl of water, some ration bars, and another bowl of fruit, all of which were set before the two Jinchūriki. "Because of your cooperation, I have finally achieved a goal three decades in the making."

"Konoha?" Naruto panted, twitching his fingers in search of food; Harō unwrapped a ration bar and put it in his hand.

"Reduced to rubble."

Naruto allowed a tired smile to grace his features. His original goal had been to enact his own form of revenge against Konoha by killing their shinobi and then…well, he honestly hadn't planned that far. Konoha had a rather large population, and one man diminishing its forces a couple of people at a time would take a long while to actually hurt the Hidden Village.

But this solution…well, though he hadn't _directly_ destroyed the Hidden Leaf, he had still played a large and necessary part in its downfall. That didn't even include all of the Konoha-nin he had killed over the years as part of his initial plan.

He suddenly felt…satisfied. Lighter. For years, he had resented the citizens of the Leaf for how unfairly he had been treated, and now that his vengeance was complete, the burden he had placed on himself to actually do something was lifted. Though, he acknowledged with a wince, there was something to be said for how painful the mechanism to do so had been. Having such a vast quantity of chakra – chakra his body relied upon, given how tightly the Kyūbi was bound to his network – siphoned out in one sitting had been the most painful experience Naruto had ever undergone…and he had suffered through years of training under Kakuzu, plus the integration of _**Jiongu**_ into his body.

Pein's voice caught his attention. "We are not yet done."

"We're not?" Fū mumbled. She sounded like she wanted to do nothing more than take a very long nap.

"No," reasserted the orange-haired man, "the destruction of Konoha was only the first phase of my plan." Naruto opened tired blue eyes and gazed at Pein's upside-down form; Akatsuki's leader was staring down at the pair of Jinchūriki placidly. "The second phase involves making sure that the world embraces peace."

Naruto licked his lips, and Harō tipped some water from the bowl into his mouth before moving over to Fū and doing the same thing. The blonde wondered absently whether his cobalt-haired companion resented being asked to act as a nurse. Then again, in his own silent way, Harō seemed inordinately pleased about the recent turn of events. Perhaps he was too happy that his leader had finally managed to free their home nation from the rule of a paranoid tyrant to really question any new tasks (temporarily) assigned to him. Naruto gave his head a slow shake to return to the matter at hand. "And how do we do that?" His tongue still felt thick from screaming, but the water had given his parched throat enough relief to eke out more than one word at a time.

"We give the remaining Kages a reason to fear us. I would like for you two to accompany me."

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki blinked. "We're not exactly in the condition to travel."

"Agreed," Fū added. Harō tipped some more water into her mouth, and she murmured, "Thanks."

"You will recover soon enough," Pein assured them, "and your presence will make a greater, and better received impact than if I brought other members of Akatsuki with me."

Naruto rolled over and then, fighting against every instinct that urged him to remain in his current position, slowly maneuvered himself into a seated position. He took an apple from the bowl Harō had brought, took a massive bite, and began to chew. Though it was phrased oddly, Pein was actually _asking_ if he and Fū would be the ones to continue to see his plans through to the end.

Blue eyes met grey. "Give us a day."

-l-l-l-

Mifune, samurai and general of Iron Country, surveyed the incomplete semicircle of leaders arrayed before him. To his right was Ē, the Yondaime Raikage, a dark-skinned, muscled man with white hair, a pointed beard, and a tiny mustache. He was cloaked in the white robes of his position, though they were left open in the front to reveal his prominent abdominals. Large, golden bracers decorated his wrists, and by the way his fingers beat a staccato rhythm on the tabletop, as well as the scowl on his features, Mifune could tell that he was impatient for the meeting to begin. The man's two subordinates – a dark-skinned man with white hair and a bored expression, and a pale-skinned platinum blonde – flanked him on either side.

The Sandaime Tsuchikage, renowned as Ryōtenbin no Ōnoki, was to the Raikage's right, his small stature seeming even smaller next to the hulking giant of both his own bodyguard (a chubby man with a yellow scarf around his neck) and the Raikage beside him. He was mostly bald, but retained a topknot of snow white hair, matched only by his immensely thick eyebrows, a handlebar mustache with pointed ends, and a triangular beard slightly longer than the Raikage's. His expression was one of irritated grouchiness, a stark contrast to the almost amused smirk his other bodyguard – a short, dark-haired woman with pupil-less pink eyes – wore.

On Mifune's left sat the Godaime Mizukage, Terumī Mei. Her long, auburn hair was styled in a herringbone pattern, accented by a short topknot and two sets of bangs, one which framed her face and covered her right eye, the other which draped down her collarbone and drew attention to her ample bosom. She was clad in a blue dress that hugged her upper body, with fishnet sewn into the hems. From his angle, Mifune could see that there was a long slit in her dress, revealing fishnet-clad legs. Facial expression as indifferent as the Raikage's white-haired bodyguard, her own accompaniment – a slight boy with misty blue hair and rectangular glasses, and an older man with slightly darker blue hair arranged in a spike and a patch over his right eye – looked nervous and serious, respectively.

Next to her was the Godaime Kazekage, a brown-eyed, bored-looking woman that Mifune only knew by reputation – Pakura of the Scorch Release. Her dark green hair was styled in a bun held together by a senbon, two orange strands of hair framing her face. She wore a dark, sleeveless top and lavender arm warmers that went almost all the way to her shoulders. Both of her guards – a stern-looking man with cloth covering the left side of his face, and a younger woman with purple facial markings reminiscent of the Inuzuka clan and a cloth heading covering – appeared as bored as their leader. Mifune wondered how much of their collective apathy was a ruse, given the event that had facilitated the meeting.

He hadn't been in charge of the last Kage Summit as he hadn't been the leader of Iron Country way back when it had taken place – at the end of the Third Shinobi World War. The purpose of the meeting was clear, the empty chair of the Hokage – between the Tsuchikage and Kazekage – giving the room a stark separation. Mifune stood to gather the attention of the collective shinobi. "I believe it is evident why this gathering has been called," he announced. "The recent destruction of Konohagakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations, is a worrisome event."

"It's the damned Akatsuki!" roared the Raikage, rising to his feet and slamming his fist upon the table. Both of his bodyguards tried not to flinch as the all-too-familiar sound of splintering wood reached their ears. "If the rest of you all had heeded my summons when Kirābī had been captured, this could have been prevented!"

"Hmph," snorted Ōnoki, "you're the one who has always preached about countries being able to survive on their own power. If you couldn't keep your Jinchūriki safe, what concern was it of ours?"

Mei nodded in agreement. "You are not the only one who lost your weapons, Raikage-dono, but none of the rest of us felt it necessary to gather all of the Kages together."

"That," spoke a new voice, "is because the rest of you have been using our services as a substitute for your Jinchūriki to augment your power."

Mifune had to turn around as all the Kages' bodyguards took up defensive positions around their leaders. Standing before him was a man possessing multiple facial piercings, with spiky orange hair and ringed, grey eyes, though his most prominent feature was the telltale black cloak with red clouds that symbolized a member of Akatsuki. Flanking him were two shinobi no older than teenagers, one a spiky-haired blonde male, the other a shorter female with mint green hair and pupil-less orange eyes. There was a slight gasp from the Iwagakure shinobi, but Mifune paid it no mind.

"AKATSUKI!" bellowed Ē. "I'll have your head for what you did to my brother!" He blurred forward faster than Mifune could track, fully intent on killing the other shinobi.

The orange-haired man was apparently ready for such an assault, as not a second passed before the Raikage was sent hurtling backwards, breaking off the back of his chair in the process. "I have not come here looking to start a fight," intoned the man, "though I would be willing to oblige if you insist. However, I must warn you that, as a god, you mere mortals, Kages you may be, do not stand a chance against me."

Mifune spied the Raikage's bodyguards helping the dark-skinned man to his feet from the corner of his eye. Returning his full attention to the man before him, he asked, "Then why are you here?"

"My name is Pein, and as you might have inferred, I am Akatsuki's leader. I have come here as a diplomat, to have my piece heard by all of you. I have even abided by the two-bodyguard rule." Ringed, grey eyes explored the room. "If I had any interest in killing you, rest assured I would have brought the entirety of my forces."

"Very well," Mifune granted at length, "we will hear what you have to say."

"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" the Raikage roared, his mustache bristling. "This man is responsible for –"

"The destruction of Konohagakure," Pein interjected seamlessly. "The Hidden Leaf was merely a demonstration of my power…perhaps Kumogakure would like another look?"

"He is here as the rest of you are," Mifune stated, "as a neutral party. If he truly desired our demise, I am sure his entrance would not have been so obvious…he could have merely attacked this summit in the same method as he did Konohagakure. Given that he did not…" he trailed off, letting the gathered shinobi draw their own conclusions. "Your fellow Kages have managed to restrain their outbursts despite their unease…please sit down, Raikage-dono." Ē did as he was bid after a long moment of glaring, his abhorrence clear on his face. "Would you like a seat, Pein?" The lack of an honorific – and thus, respect – wasn't lost on anyone present.

"No, I shall remain standing. I trust the gathered parties as much as they trust me." Mifune nodded and returned his gaze so he was staring once more at the four Kages.

"Why are you here?" Mei asked frostily.

"Despite many of your villages using Akatsuki for your own purposes in the past," Pein began, "you lack understanding of what our goal is. We are not a mercenary group for hire, nor are we a method to bolster your forces during war…we are the solution to war, a method to create peace."

Ōnoki snorted again. "Your way of spreading peace is certainly backwards. You've destroyed one of the Five Great Shinobi Nations."

"Konohagakure received what it deserved," Pein returned, a tinge of coldness in his voice. "It has started and been embroiled in the most wars, and has wreaked more destruction than was necessary. Do not pretend to be sorrowed by its destruction, Tsuchikage…the Hidden Leaf inflicted grievous injuries upon your forces in the Third Shinobi World War. Sunagakure also benefits from its disappearance…reparations have been costly, have they not, Kazekage?"

"Not having to live under the thumb of the Hidden Leaf relieves my village of a great burden," Pakura stated calmly, speaking for the first time since her contingent's arrival. "Additionally, Akatsuki's removal of Shukaku from our possession has allowed my people to live in less fear of being killed by one of its own."

"You sound like you condone Akatsuki's actions, Kazekage-dono," Mei said.

"The actions of the previous Kazekage left Suna in shambles," Pakura replied, her tone bland. "We have been neither as prosperous nor as strong as we were during the days of the Sandaime Kazekage. If Akatsuki has a solution to this issue that betters life for my people, I am open to suggestions."

"You propose listening to this lunatic?" Ē spat.

"You will all listen to me," Pein said, raising his voice slightly. "While Konoha had the most infractions against it, all of your villages have ravaged the land with your war. I will not tolerate such action to continue now that I have the power to stop it. All of your Bijū, your weapons, are within my possession, and I have no compunctions about using them against you if my requests are not met."

"…And what _are_ your requests?" Mifune asked.

"Amegakure will take Konohagakure's place as the fifth of the Five Great Shinobi Nations. It will be a place of refuge for anyone willing to comply with its rules. In addition, there will be no more war. The world will be a better place with peace ruling…people will not need to experience pain ever again."

"Your proposal all but disintegrates the need for a shinobi system," Mei said.

Pein turned his gaze to her. "Perhaps, though I have little doubt that there are other ways to make shinobi useful. Nukenin from your villages still roam the world, do they not? Without focusing on methods to usurp the powers of the other villages, you can devote more energy into tracking down these threats to peace. In addition, shinobi have prowess which normal civilians do not…they could offer their services for the betterment of your village."

Ōnoki squinted at the orange-haired man. "And if we refuse to comply with your demands?"

Grey eyes focused on him. "Then your village will be destroyed," Pein responded flatly. "Konoha is now rubble…I can do the same to any of your villages. In addition, Akatsuki is comprised of missing-nin from most of your homes…Deidara…Akasuna no Sasori…Hoshigaki Kisame…" he stated, turning from the Tsuchikage to the Kazekage and Mizukage in turn. "They are just a couple of the members within my employ…and I can learn all the secrets of your villages that they know." Ōnoki's hands gravitated towards each other, a spark of his legendary _kekkei tōta_ forming between them at the implied threat. Lightning flashed around the Raikage, and the area around the Mizukage began to become distorted with heat. "If that still does not appease you…"

Fū stepped forward, the beginning of her own _**Jinton**_ appearing in her palms. Naruto was right beside her, a nimbus of glowing energy encircling his clasped hands. "You should be aware that the last surviving Jinchūriki work for me," Pein finished.

Much of the fight seemed to go out of the room at that announcement, Ōnoki's Dust Release dissipating into nothing. "She can use _**Jinton**_?" he gaped. Beside him, the Raikage was exchanging heated words with his dark-skinned guard.

Pein placed a hand on each of his subordinates' shoulders, silently telling them to relax; both released their prepared techniques. "The Nanabi no Kabutomushi is the originator of your vaunted _kekkei tōta_," he stated, "and the skills of the Kyūbi Jinchūriki are even more impressive." He almost added, 'you can test them if you'd like', but opted to let the fact that two Jinchūriki were allied with him speak for itself.

Mei fixed the pair with a hard stare. "You would work for this man, knowing what he has done?"

"Yes," Fū responded without hesitation. "His goal is a noble one, and he's offered us a place in his new world."

"I can offer you more."

Naruto laughed, though the sound was far darker than it should be coming from someone so young. "Yeah, sure," he replied cynically. "The Sanbi, formerly sealed within your Yondaime Mizukage, was found in the wild because you had killed the Jinchūriki when it was discovered he had been manipulated by a genjutsu." The Mizukage looked momentarily surprised that he had such knowledge, but quickly schooled her features; Naruto was suddenly grateful he had gleaned some interesting tidbits of information from Pein (who had received his own information from the other members of Akatsuki) about the status of his fellow containers before they had been captured. "And the Rokubi Jinchūriki had been declared a missing-nin from your village for who-knows how long."

The blonde turned steely blue eyes upon Pakura. "_Your_ Jinchūriki was a certifiable head case who believed killing people was needed to prove his existence." A slight shiver ran through Fū at the memory of Gaara, causing Naruto to scowl. He turned to Ōnoki. "_You _sent a measly eight shinobi to try and track down _your_ Jinchūriki, who had been all but exiled from your village and was living in the mountains; I know because I killed them. And your other Jinchūriki…well, from what I heard, you didn't even bother going after him, and he was the first one Akatsuki kidnapped.

"She," he stated, thumbing towards Fū, "and I were mistreated and spurned for things we never had any control over in our villages. Once we were free to do as we wanted, we could finally live our lives the way we wanted, and Pein offered us the opportunity to create a world where such inequality wouldn't exist. And you think that we're stupid enough to ally ourselves with one of your villages? Don't make me laugh," he scoffed.

"Kumo treated its Jinchūriki fairly!" the Raikage barked.

"Yeah," the blonde drawled dryly, his tone rife with cynical disbelief, "you apparently seem to be the exception rather than the rule on many accounts. We're not joining you either, though."

"You may try to sway them to your side, but your villages' treatment of Jinchūriki is well known," Pein intoned. "Your breath is wasted. You have two options…submit to my demands, or resist…and perish."

Silence reigned in the small building as the assembled Kages and their bodyguards weighed their options. Ē still looked enraged, and beside him, Ōnoki had a troubled expression on his face, trying to come to terms with the knowledge that, not only was there another living person who could wield _**Jinton**_, but that a teenager who looked remarkably like the Yellow Flash, Iwa's bane, was standing before him. Mei still appeared coolly indifferent, though the heat emanating off her belied her true feelings.

"I accept Pein's terms."

All eyes shifted to look at Pakura, whose face was placid. "You mean to side with these cutthroats and anarchists?!" roared the Raikage.

"What you perceive as anarchy is merely a clash of our ideals with yours," Pein interrupted. "Your wars have ravaged my home –"

Pakura held up a held, and Pein – curious to hear what she would say – inclined his head in a modicum of respect. The green- and orange-haired woman turned her gaze to the Raikage. "You are too blinded by the loss of your brother to see the big picture. For one thing, Akatsuki – which until now has been thought to be comprised of mercenaries – has rather unnecessarily followed the rules of the Kage Summit in an attempt to fill in the vacuum left by Konoha's destruction. In a world where this man –" she gestured towards Pein "— controls the most powerful forces we are aware of, such an action is not indicative of someone bent on world domination.

"Kumogakure has also not experienced what it is like to deal with a Jinchūriki who is hated and feared by its village in many years. To have swayed two Jinchūriki bearing such pasts to his side, Pein must have some measure of charisma that they respect. In his quest to create peace for the world, he has removed the concept of Jinchūriki from the nations' possession, thus creating a more equal balance of power among the remaining countries. This will exclude Amegakure, but given that it already controls the remaining Bijū, having two active Jinchūriki will make no difference. Perhaps when the Jinchūriki pass on, the Bijū they possess will be sealed in the same fashion as the rest?" she posed. Pein inclined his head once more in assent, if only to offer some reassurance to the woman. Pakura continued on, "Given that Pein has already reduced Konohagakure to nothing, he has the power to destroy anything he deems appropriate. As he is proposing a solution which does not use such a devastating methodology, it would be foolish to go against it.

"I do not necessarily agree with how he went about instigating his idealism, but he has achieved something that the world has yet to see…assuming the rest of you choose to do the intelligent thing and submit. With Konoha no longer restraining our growth, Sunagakure can once again become strong. We appreciate this opportunity," she directed at Pein. "You will see no trouble from us."

Pein nodded at her before passing his gaze around to the other gathered Kages. One by one, the rest of them acquiesced to his demands, though only Pakura's expression remained free of any sourness or hatred. "I will take my leave now," he intoned. "Know that I have no interest in Fire Country, and you may divide up the land as you like, _peaceably_. I will be watching for any breach of our contract." With that, he turned and swept out of the building, Naruto and Fū on his heels.

They walked through the dozens of fallen samurai, all knocked unconscious on the trio's way into the Kage Summit. "They actually caved in to your demands. So, now what…Amekage-sama?" Naruto asked, a teasing note in his voice.

"The Kages are not so easily persuaded," Pein informed him. "The Kazekage's intentions seemed sincere, but I do not trust the rest of them to retain the same goodwill. While Amegakure becomes strong, Akatsuki will keep an eye on them from the shadows."

"And if they step out of line?" Fū posed.

"They will regret doing so."

The trio continued on their way in silence. Naruto couldn't believe the position he was in. Over a decade ago, when Kakuzu had stolen him out of Fire Country and began the tedious process of imparting his knowledge unto the blonde, he would've never expected this to be the outcome. Now, with his vengeance against Konoha complete and the world forced to bow to Akatsuki's will, he wasn't sure quite what to do next. He shot a furtive glance at Fū, suddenly quite aware of the fact that they now had their whole lives ahead of them and the unresolved feelings of a kiss they had shared to discuss.

_ I wonder how things'll change…_

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** I know the Raikage's name is 'A', but it always throws me off to read that (too hard to read it as a name in the middle of a sentence), so I did the same thing I did with Pein. Also, Pakura is alive here because I needed someone worthwhile to become Kazekage, and out of the Suna characters we know, she was the best bet. I also had a bit of trouble deciding what sort of result Pein's kinjutsu would have (because honestly, they never exactly go into detail), so I hope that was satisfactory enough. That and Tobi's demise require a bit of imagination, I think.

Anyway, just the epilogue left. Thanks for reviewing (seriously, where the hell did all these people come from?) the last chapter (which I was really nervous about), and let me know what you think of this chapter (even more nervous about this one)!


	21. Epilogue: Legacy

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Naruto._

_13 years later_

Uzumaki Naruto, Nidaime Amekage, sat at his desk in the tower which had once belonged to Hanzō the Salamander. Blue eyes skimmed the report held in his hand, a message about Kumogakure's most recent attempt at amassing an army. He crumpled the paper in one hand and tossed it over his shoulder with a resigned sigh.

"You shouldn't just trash everything after you're finished reading it."

Naruto spared a glance at Harō, standing beside his desk with the twin katana _**Kiba**_ lashed to their usual place on his back. He graced his cobalt-haired friend with a wry twitch of his lips. "Why bother? You know that I only receive copies, and it's not like much ever changes. Eventually, someone will have to go out and scare them back into submission. Honestly, I don't even know why you continue to tell me to save these things."

"Because it's my job," Harō replied, "and because I believe it's important for you to carry on the legacy that Pein-sama began."

Naruto swiveled in his chair and faced the window that had eventually filled the hole Pein had created in the building. Rain pattered a steady beat against it, and the blonde was reminded of exactly what had happened following Pein's ultimatum at the Kage Summit.

_Pein's prediction about the positions of the Kages had been accurate. Naruto, Fū, and the rest of Akatsuki had been deployed on missions to spy on and interfere with the plans of the major Hidden Villages (the minor ones such as Hidden Frost and Hidden Grass had been approached by some of the more diplomatic members, such as Konan, or been influenced by one of Sasori's spies to accept unconditional surrender to Akatsuki) to ascertain that they would abide by Pein's wishes. Pein had explained that, while possible to simply impose his will upon the other nations via his kinjutsu, it was preferable to simply have the existing Kages bend to his demands by more subtle methods, such as guerrilla subterfuge._

_Naruto and Fū were rather grateful for such a decision, as they had little desire to once again experience the excruciating torture the kinjutsu had inflicted upon their bodies._

_Though the reaction had been subtle, Naruto thought that Pein had been a little surprised at Akatsuki's agreement to continue with his plans, though all had done so based on personal reasons. Deidara had been excited at the prospect of being able to cause more destruction via his art, and Sasori had followed in an effort to add to his puppet collection. Kakuzu had stipulated that he would get all money he acquired from whatever bounties he killed (which Pein had no issues with), and Hidan had tagged along because traveling with Kakuzu tended to provide him with more sacrifices for Jashin. Itachi hadn't offered an explanation, merely stating that he and Kisame would watch over Kirigakure's movements; Zetsu had simply wanted to cause mischief and try new foods._

_Out of all the Hidden Villages, only Sunagakure hadn't needed any sort of continuous overseeing, the Kazekage abiding by her decision to support Pein. In fact, not long after the Kage Summit, the Kazekage had requested the assistance of Akatsuki at quelling a small rebellion within the Hidden Sand. Some of the people hadn't been overly happy with her decision to kowtow to Pein's demands, and she had explained that having Akatsuki come in to quash the uprising would more effectively convey her position than potentially starting a civil war within the Hidden Sand by doing it herself would._

_Naruto and Fū – both dressed in the black cloak with red clouds of Akatsuki (and how strange it felt, to be wearing that uniform) – had been deployed (Hidan was too violent, Sasori still retained a grudge against Sunagakure, and Kisame and Itachi were too far away) to handle the matter. They had done so easily enough, and to the surprise of both Jinchūriki, the Kazekage had (privately) thanked them for their assistance and then told them to reassure Pein of her adherence to his demands._

_Following that, the two Jinchūriki often left on different bounty hunting expeditions meant to deprive the remaining villages of valuable shinobi, thus lowering their ability to resist Pein's stipulations. They returned to Amegakure frequently to report back to Pein and find out the status of the ninja world, and after having two years to settle into a routine, Naruto's presence was requested by the orange-haired man._

_Naruto made his way through Amegakure to Pein's tower, having been enjoying a brief rest at the house he and Fū shared, courtesy of the orange-haired man himself. The pair of Jinchūriki had been dating (though the term had a very loose definition for shinobi) since shortly after Pein had exerted his control over the Hidden Rain, and although the relationship had been strange in the beginning, it had settled into something comfortable that Naruto enjoyed being a part of. _

_His thoughts were derailed when Konan greeted him in Pein's place. She beckoned for him to follow her, and he did so silently, wondering as to the peculiarity when the blue-haired woman led him to the building next door. They climbed up to the top floor, where Konan moved aside and allowed him entrance to a room he'd never seen before. The door slid shut behind her, and in the dim lighting, Naruto could barely make out the distinct forms of what appeared to be six pods. "What is this place?" he wondered._

"_My sanctuary," came the reply, the voice sounding strangely tired. Naruto squinted into the darkness, but a light flickered on above him to reveal an emaciated man strapped to a strange machine, limp red hair hanging about his face. "Welcome, Uzumaki Naruto."_

_The blonde walked slowly through the room, glancing into the pods as he passed. Each one was occupied by a black-clad figure with orange hair (in varying styles), multiple facial piercings, and the strange eyes Pein possessed. He vaguely recognized the body which had met with him and Harō to fight Hanzō, as well as the spiky-haired form of the man he had come to associate with Akatsuki's leader. Konan passed him and came to stand beside the red-haired man. "This place…that body…" his eyes darted to look at the spiky-haired form before returning to the figure before him. "You're the real Pein?"_

"_You could say that. 'Pein' is merely an alias with which to spread my ideals. I am Nagato…and I have been leading Akatsuki since before you were born."_

_Nagato's speech was slow and methodical, and combined with his poor physical condition, Naruto wondered how old he really was. "Well…I guess I should thank you then. You know, for not killing Fū and me."_

"_Your gratitude is unnecessary, given your continued loyalties. I believe it is I who should thank you for your dedication to my vision." He was interrupted by a fit of violent coughing, and the blonde could see a trickle of blood dribbling from his lips._

_Naruto almost asked if the older man was okay, but the answer to that question seemed obvious. Konan also appeared visibly concerned – which was a change given her usual stoic demeanor – standing a little closer than necessary to Nagato and sparing him a worried glance. Instead, the Jinchūriki waited until Nagato appeared settled before voicing the question on his mind. "If I might ask, why did you call me here?"_

_Nagato nodded slowly. "Yes, to business. I am not long for this world…the consequences of using the __**Gedō Mazō**__ have reduced by body to the sight you see before you. As such, the title of Amekage needs to be passed on in order to maintain the balance of power amongst the nations. I am appointing you as my successor."_

_There was silence in the room as both Akatsuki members stared at Naruto, who appeared to be processing Nagato's words. He blinked. "…What?" Then he blinked again, and the message seemed to penetrate the haze pervading his mind. "_WHAT?_"_

"_You will become the Nidaime Amekage," Nagato reiterated._

"_But…but…I don't know anything about being a Kage," protested Naruto. "I'm a hunter, not a ruler…I'm not even twenty yet! Why me? Why not…Konan?" he floundered, pointing at the blue-haired woman._

"_Konan has decided to oversee the populace of Otogakure, which will remain allied with Amegakure," Nagato replied. "She doesn't feel she has the…constitution…to remain here in a position of power." Truthfully, Konan had confided that she didn't think remaining in control of the country her two closest friends had grown up in and died for was something she could handle, and that passing the torch on to Naruto and supporting him from a distance was the best idea. The redhead continued, "In addition, when my…absence…is discovered by the other Kages, Konan's reputation, even as a member of Akatsuki, will not prevent them from rebelling against Amegakure even harder than now. You, as the Kyūbi Jinchūriki, possess such a reputation._

"_You also believe in the ideals of myself and my friend –" Nagato's eyes flickered over to the spiky-haired body's pod, and Naruto wondered if that Pein was Yahiko "— making you a prime candidate to uphold the beliefs we have strived so hard to achieve. Your strength and your charisma will continue to keep the people of Amegakure free from strife and war."_

"_What about the Bijū?"_

_Nagato shook his head. "You will be unable to utilize the Bijū kinjutsu that was employed to destroy Konohagakure. I will speak to the other members of Akatsuki about their role in the future, but I would not assume their cooperation. You will have to stand on your own power in order to maintain peace."_

_Naruto grimaced a little at that – the loss of half a dozen S-class nukenin and the threat of the Bijū technique were mighty ones – but considered the offer. He hadn't been trained to be a diplomat; the only thing he really knew was how to kill…how to stay alive. Then again, the past two years alone had given him a fair idea of how the other countries operated under Pein's threat, making him aware of what he could expect from them as the Amekage. Plus, he still had Fū and Harō at his side, not to mention Konan for support, and a tentative alliance with Sunagakure…_

_He sighed, but looked up at Nagato with determined blue eyes. "Fine…I'll do it."_

Nagato had passed away not long afterwards, bequeathing the title of Amekage to Naruto in a public announcement so as to assure there wouldn't be another civil war within the Hidden Rain. Konan had left to Otogakure, and with the loss of its leader – not to mention Itachi, who had died some time before Pein due to some illness – Akatsuki had disintegrated.

Rumors had still abounded of the activities of men dressed in black cloaks with red clouds, and Naruto had often received intelligence reports of a potential uprising in one of the other Hidden Villages, only to be followed several days later by the quelling of said uprising, with evidence of massive explosions or missing organs or no visible external injuries decorating the corpses of murdered shinobi. He and Fū had continued to run missions to instill the fear of the living Jinchūriki into the hearts of his enemies, and Harō had become both his advisor and an infiltration specialist when the situation called for such skills.

None of them had ever run into any of the former Akatsuki members, and Naruto wasn't sure whether to be relieved or disheartened at the lack of contact. In a strange way, he sort of missed his old teacher, though he doubted Kakuzu shared the same sentiment.

Suddenly, the trapdoor that opened into his office slammed against the floor with a bang, causing the blonde to turn around and raise an eyebrow at the panting Ame-nin now in the room. "Amekage-sama," gasped the shinobi, "in-intruder! Tall…bl-black cloak…"

Before anything else could be said, black tendrils emerged from the opening in the floor and wound around the man. He was lifted into the air as a large figure ascended the stairs into the room, an unconscious Rain shinobi wrapped in more tendrils being dragged along behind him. "Hello, brat," greeted Kakuzu. "Your security is lacking."

Naruto sat in his chair with a small grin in place. _Speak of the devil…_ "There aren't many people who can stand up to you, Kakuzu-ojii-san."

_WHAM!_

"The years apart have not taught you much," Kakuzu growled, retracting his hand from his pupil's scalp and letting the blonde raise his head off the desk; a round, red mark decorated the center of his forehead, repayment for the barb at the former Taki-nin's age.

Harō cleared his throat in an attempt to disperse the strange atmosphere in the room. "Ah, Kakuzu…if you could…" he gestured at the two shinobi in the man's grasp. The nukenin released his prisoners wordlessly, green eyes fixed on Naruto. Harō signaled to the conscious shinobi that everything was okay, and the man took his cue to leave, doing so in a great hurry.

Both thread-users engaged in a silent stare-down. Finally, Naruto said, "So…what're you doing here?"

"I have come to see if your mediocre skills have deteriorated."

A glint sparked in Naruto's blue eyes. "You're challenging me?"

"Yes, though I doubt it will be challenging."

Naruto stood up from his desk abruptly. "It's on."

Harō resisted the urge to slap his palm to his forehead. Even after over a decade of separation, Kakuzu and Naruto retained the same dynamic they'd had ever since he'd met them at the Chūnin Exams so long ago. The cobalt-haired male hurried after the duo, curious despite himself to see the outcome of the battle.

-l-l-l-

"So where's your other half?"

Behind his mask, Kakuzu scowled. Despite their animosity towards each other, Hidan had never left his side during his travels over the years. Kakuzu's assumption was that the Jashinist wished to somehow convert him to his religion, though he privately wondered if Hidan hadn't stuck around just to annoy him to death. "With your better half," he retorted.

Naruto grimaced at that, though it was more because the thought of Hidan in his household with Fū was a _bad_ one than out of any animosity Kakuzu's barb was supposed to invoke. After Kirigakure had finally stopped trying to rebel against the ultimatum for peace several years ago (there had never been any conclusive evidence as to _why_ it stopped, although a mix of rumors involving Akatsuki and the loss of the Hidden Mist's legendary swordsmen and swords had spread like wildfire), he and his wife had decided to try for a second child. Their daughter was only three years old and still _very _impressionable, and Hidan's religious yammering and cussing would not be appreciated while Fū was watching over their youngest. That aside, Naruto hadn't actually expected such a definite answer from Kakuzu. "I'm surprised…I thought for sure you would've left Hidan in pieces in a ditch somewhere."

Kakuzu almost laughed. Truthfully, the thought had crossed his mind after Pein had passed away and Akatsuki had been formally dissolved, but the qualities that made Hidan such a nuisance to deal with also made him quite useful in attracting attention. In turn, that made the process of collecting bounties much smoother, as he could reap in larger quantities at a time, and without having to spend time looking for wandering Jinchūriki, the nukenin's funds had increased dramatically. None of that prevented Hidan from taking forever with his rituals, or telling Kakuzu he was going to go to Hell (again) for collecting money, but the former Taki-nin had solved those problems by either leaving Hidan behind to catch up or stitching his mouth shut.

Without any more orders to follow, Kakuzu had been free to once more enjoy the bounties of life, and even with Hidan trailing him everywhere, he had done so with aplomb.

The old nukenin watched his pupil unwrap the bandages on his left arm, noting that the outfit he wore was virtually unchanged from when they had competed over the Rokubi Jinchūriki so many years before. He had been…disappointed, perhaps, when Naruto had chosen to remain in Amegakure with Pein over the life of a free-roaming bounty hunter. Then again, Pein had offered the blonde a good life, one that Kakuzu knew he couldn't match; as Itachi had said, Naruto's and Fū's lives were their own now, and Kakuzu's disposition probably made the idea of following in his footsteps an unappealing one to the two Jinchūriki. His original plan of molding Naruto into his second coming had been somewhat successful in execution, but had then stumbled a bit once the blonde had taken up the post of Amekage.

Kakuzu's thoughts had floated back to his pupil every once in a while, sometimes when he took out some shinobi attempting to fight against the Hidden Rain, other times when he needed something to muse on to ignore Hidan. He hadn't been curious enough to intrude upon the lives of the two Jinchūriki – especially when places he and Hidan had visited often held whispers of destruction wreaked by the blonde or green-haired demon containers – but each mention of their power made the nukenin's smirk grow a little wider. It was he who had spurred them to their current level of greatness, and every life they took held some signature of his name on it.

He wasn't sure exactly what the tipping point was, but after more than a decade of roaming the world completely free of responsibility, the tales of Naruto and grumblings about the Hidden Rain's power had piqued his interest enough to want to drop in on his pupil. Naruto might not have followed the path Kakuzu had wanted him to, but that didn't mean that all the lessons he'd been taught had gone to waste. _Consider_ _this your final exam, brat._

"This is a fight to the death," he informed his pupil. He unbuttoned his Akatsuki cloak and threw it to the side. "I hope your wife is prepared to be widowed."

Naruto smirked back at his teacher. "Did you kiss Hidan goodbye before you left him? I'm sure he'll miss his _partner_."

"…I will kill you for that comment alone."

Sitting on a pipe jutting out from a building high above the two shinobi, Harō watched as Kakuzu bent over and unleashed four masses of black threads from his back. The space they were fighting in was essentially a flat rock several hundred feet in diameter, completely surrounded by water and framed by buildings. It was the personal training area Naruto had claimed upon officially moving into Amegakure, and Harō had been his sparring partner often enough to know that the blonde's skill was nothing to sneeze at.

Grey eyes flickered back to Kakuzu. _Then again, Kakuzu is a powerful shinobi in his own right, and he probably taught Naruto a lot of what he knows. There's no telling what will happen._

Down below, Naruto wound through seals as Kakuzu's threads and masks settled into the strange forms he was familiar with. Four clones materialized, and almost immediately they abandoned their positions as wind, fire, lightning, and water rained down upon them. The blonde ignored the varied elements, choosing instead to charge at the older man in a burst of speed.

"Whatever taijutsu you attempt will be worthless," Kakuzu commented. "Your style is no match for mine." His arms extended in a staggered maneuver meant to catch the blonde after he dodged the first fist, but Naruto dropped to his stomach instead.

"You never know," he retorted, sending his fists underground. They popped up with the intent of catching Kakuzu in an uppercut, but the former Taki-nin sidestepped with minimal effort, and the blonde could almost picture his teacher rolling his eyes at the futility.

Kakuzu grabbed the tendrils extending from his pupil's forearms, preventing the Jinchūriki from retracting his limbs. He paused for a moment to observe Naruto, as if measuring his worth. "Given how easily you were maneuvered into this position, the outcome of this battle seems apparent. The title of 'Kage' seems to hold no meaning in this age." As he finished his verbal abuse, his fire mask interposed itself between the pair, a kernel of flames already formed in its mouth. "_**Katon: Zukkoku.**_"

A massive explosion shook the air, and Harō wondered at the strength of both shinobi that he could feel the heat's intensity from his position. Kakuzu's attack was powerful, but the only reason the combustion had occurred on such a scale was because of Naruto.

Practice over the years and possession of affinities for all the elements had granted Naruto a virtually limitless arsenal of techniques. One of the ones he had practiced with Harō had been the creation of a technique that could form several different types of clones in one movement, each one composed of a different element. The four doppelgangers he had created at the beginning of the fight had been the result of that time, comprised of water, earth, storm, and wind. With the thread-creature blocking Kakuzu's sight of Naruto, the blonde had replaced himself with his Wind Clone.

The mass of black threads that contained Kakuzu's wind heart flew above the cloud of smoke engulfing the battlefield and exhaled a gust that blew the haze away.

Naruto was revealed to be standing behind a rather large, red chameleon, his hand on the reptile's back. Kamegōka's head was tilted up at the flying thread-creature. "_**Yōton: Yōyūha!**_" Several waves of liquid magma erupted from the reptile's mouth, crashing over the airborne wind mask and melting it before it could move far enough away. "What was it you told me?" Naruto questioned, his tone mocking. "'Predictability kills'? You only have so many moves, Kakuzu-_ojii-san_, and I know all of them."

Kakuzu's brow furrowed in aggravation, though whether it was due to the loss of two of his hearts, Naruto's reference to his age, or the fact that the blonde actually had a fair point was unclear. "You learned how to utilize combination attacks with your summons," he noted. "By supplying a chameleon with a fire affinity with earth chakra, you can produce _**Yōton**_ ninjutsu…" He took a step forward, crushing the remnants of his fire mask that had been destroyed in the earlier explosion. The rest of Naruto's clones had also disappeared, though he remained unharmed due to activating the Earth Spear technique the moment Naruto's tendrils had disappeared from his grasp, signaling the blonde's substitution. "And you managed to make a corporeal clone from an element as insubstantial as wind…a _**Kaze Bunshin**_…impressive." Green eyes narrowed to slits. "But the time for talking is over. You should have learned that with age comes experience…and you are still decades behind me."

"What are you –" Naruto began, but Kakuzu had already blazed through seals, causing a thick mist to sprout into existence. _Kirigakure no Jutsu?_ he wondered, but then a shortness of breath hit him and he went down to his knees, clutching his throat. _What…is…this?_

Unfamiliar with the technique Kakuzu was using, Naruto switched his wind and storm hearts to extrude the former, allowing it to unleash a burst of air that dispersed the mist in the immediate vicinity. He was able to take a heaping gulp of air before the void was filled, and this time, the blonde could feel the vapor burning his skin. Reflexively activating the Earth Spear technique, Naruto looked behind him to find his thread-creature liquefying into a puddle of black goo.

"I believe that my _**Futton: Nōmu no Chissoku**_ and _**Futton: Kōmu no Jutsu**_ have proven you wrong," echoed Kakuzu's voice through the vapor, filled with condescension. Blue eyes went wide at that admission; the Suffocating Fog and Skilled Mist Technique were both ninjutsu of the Boil Release chakra nature, a _kekkei genkai_ that was in the possession of only one individual that he knew of. His revelation was cut short as a wave of lava cascaded towards him, and he hastily sprouted wings composed of black threads to get airborne.

_**Jiongu**_ bore him above the mist and allowed him to alight upon the water, well out of the range of the deadly vapor. Even though the evidence pointed to Naruto's suspicion being right, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "You…did you kill the –"

Curved vortexes of water rose to skewer him, and only his continued usage of the Earth Spear technique prevented him from being killed. Kakuzu came charging out of the mist, his remaining two masks placed in the spread of threads on his back that accompanied his change into the long-armed form. Both limbs lashed forward, boxing the blonde in, and making him a prime target for Kakuzu's lightning heart to unleash a Lightning Release: False Darkness.

Naruto dropped the earth ninjutsu and encaged himself in a _**Kazekyū**_, simultaneously negating the incoming electricity and blowing Kakuzu's arms away from his personal space. His earth heart slipped out of his body, and as it dove towards Kakuzu in a feint, Naruto allowed _**Jiongu**_ to form around him in a parody of Kakuzu's form; his fire and water masks situated themselves above each shoulder. _Bring it on, Kakuzu…this won't be like before._

To his shock, a massive length of black tendrils ripped through Kakuzu's sleeveless top and wound about his thread-creature. The mass containing his earth heart was ensnared within the kinjutsu's grasp and pulled into the yawning hole that had opened in Kakuzu's stomach; it vanished within, and Kakuzu's skin stitched itself back together. Naruto gaped openly for a moment before managing to ask, "How did you _do that?_"

"If you have to ask, then you are undeserving to know," retorted the nukenin.

Naruto scowled at that response – _typical Kakuzu_ – and prepared himself for the next clash. He supposed that because he and Kakuzu were both carriers of _**Jiongu**_, which could easily transplant organs, it wasn't too far a stretch to assume that one thread-user could steal hearts – even previously stolen ones – from another. After all, he remembered, he had transferred a heart into Kakuzu's corpse after the man had died; this was practically the same thing.

Still, it wasn't a move he would've expected. Now he knew to keep the rest of his hearts at his side; not only could Kakuzu steal them if they roamed autonomously as thread-creatures, but they were far more vulnerable in that state, and he was currently down two hearts to his teacher's one.

_I can rectify that,_ he thought, _but I'll need a couple seconds to charge, and the minute he sees me making seals, he'll attack._

That meant that he would have to take the offensive and find a way to stall his teacher long enough to get off his attack. He almost snorted at the likelihood of that actually happening, the playfulness and time for exchanging barbs with Kakuzu passed in light of the man's seriousness. Naruto flipped through hand signs, and sure enough, Kakuzu immediately attacked, a bolt of lightning surging forward from the appropriate mask; he summoned a _**Suiton: Suijinheki**_ and jumped up. The liquid absorbed the current as Naruto sprouted black wings once more and soared over to the piece of land in the middle of the training area, the thick fog having vanished. Kakuzu – standing on a piece of hardened water that hadn't conducted the electricity – turned and allowed the water and lightning masks to shoot out a combination attack at the blonde. He blocked with a mass of threads that twined together from his wrists, and then plummeted towards the ground, hardened fist poised to strike.

Harō's eyes went wide just before Naruto reached land with a shout of, "_**Doton: Yurugasu Chijō no Jutsu!**_"

The cobalt-haired man looked around and found that several other Ame-nin had arrived on the scene to cheer on their leader, all of them watching from different perches on the surrounding pipes and buildings as he was. "Back up!" he yelled, jumping up to the rooftop as the shockwave from the Shattering Earth Technique struck. The rest of the Rain shinobi hastened to obey, and Harō returned his attention to the fight, waiting for the Amekage's successive ninjutsu; the triple attack Naruto was about to employ was impressive enough that the buildings they were all crouched on had only been rebuilt after Naruto had perfected his control of the combination.

Kakuzu looked to be regaining his equilibrium on the choppy water when the liquid parted into two towering waves that loomed over him momentarily. He surveyed the incoming deluge impassively, sparing his student a brief glance before forming seals. "_**Doton: Iwa no Hinansho**_."

Earth rose up and encapsulated him in a hemispheric shell as Naruto called out, "_**Suiton: Tsunami no Jutsu.**_"

All the water that had been held up by Naruto's chakra crashed down upon the earthen dome, battering it relentlessly. Naruto, already aware that Kakuzu would survive, was preparing the third ninjutsu technique, wind whipping around him in a violent twister and picking up the surrounding water. As soon as Kakuzu surfaced – one hardened fist punching through his own defense and allowing him to utilize chakra to rise up – Naruto unleashed the wind and water assault, announcing, "_**Fūton: Taifū no Jutsu.**_"

The twister surged forward and sucked Kakuzu into its vortex. Before the former Taki-nin was drawn too far into the technique, he laced his hands together into the sign of the Snake and intoned, "_**Doton: Kajūgan no Jutsu.**_" He dropped like a stone through the tempest, falling into the water and releasing the technique to buoy back to the surface. Wet tangles of dark brown hair hung before his eyes, and he realized that somewhere in the slew of attacks, he had lost his forehead protector, head covering, and mask. "A rather ostentatious combination, but ultimately ineffective," he informed his pupil.

_Not quite,_ Naruto thought, hands clasped together with a nimbus of bluish-white energy formed around it. Taking one last second to concentrate on what he was doing, he took a breath and released his hold on the technique. "_**Ranton: Reizā Sākasu!**_"

Beams of light erupted from the halo of energy that surrounded his hands, all of them targeting Kakuzu. Over time – and with a library of information Pein had recovered from Orochimaru – the blonde had eventually learned the actual secret to utilizing the Storm Release _kekkei genkai_ effectively. Split into separate beams, the Laser Circus technique wasn't exactly strong at killing humans – the Light Cannon did that job plenty well – but then again, Naruto's target wasn't Kakuzu himself.

Kakuzu raised a wall of water in a vain attempt at stalling the attack, but the energy simply penetrated the liquid and slammed into his body. The areas they struck burned slightly, but aside from that, there wasn't any real damage. It was only when a cracking sound emitted next to each ear that he realized the true targets; the sight of his lightning and water masks crumbling to the ground merely confirmed his suspicion. "So," he stated, returning the surrounding threads to his body and regaining his human form, "it seems your skill, meager though it was, has improved somewhat."

Naruto didn't bother responding.

_It appears he is taking this seriously…good._ Kakuzu's lips twitched minutely. _Let us see who will emerge victorious, now that the endgame has begun._ He collected chakra in his chest, feeling the roiling torrent of the fire and earth elements mixing together; if Naruto wanted to utilize his stolen _kekkei genkai_ to get ahead, then Kakuzu would oblige his student by doing the same. "_**Yōton: Shakugaryūgan no Jutsu,**_" he muttered.

Lava spewed forth from his mouth, forming into countless, flaming orbs. Naruto raised a thick wall of earth to protect himself from the Lava Release: Scorching Steam Rock Technique, but the miniature meteors smashed through it as if it was glass. The blonde crossed his arms before his face and allowed the Earth Spear technique to absorb most of the impact, though every collision still jarred his body. When the assault finally stopped, Naruto glanced up to find that a thick mist was obscuring his vision. He immediately recalled the two masks sitting on his shoulders back into his body and shifted them so that his water heart was in his chest; unsure as to how powerful the vapor's melting properties were, he summoned an armor of rock to cover his body, dropping the Earth Spear technique.

Silence reigned for a long moment, and then Kakuzu appeared out of the mist and delivered a brutal punch to Naruto's chest, shattering the stone covering with his strength. The blonde grunted at the impact, skidding backwards a fair distance, and before he could completely recover, Kakuzu appeared in front of him and shot his hand into the opening he had created. Naruto realized the ploy for what it was just as threads began to creep around his heart. "I will take Kumo's vaunted _**Ranton**_ bloodline," Kakuzu informed him matter-of-factly.

_This isn't __**Futton**__, it's just __**Kirigakure no Jutsu**__, _Naruto concluded. Kakuzu's real goal was to assimilate another one of his hearts into his own body. _Fuck that._ He commanded his own kinjutsu to wind around the same heart his teacher was prepared to take – his water one – and squished it as a mask popped up over his shoulder, an orb of bluish-white light forming in its mouth. "Try…again…" he gasped, moving his fire heart to displace the ruined water one; so much simultaneous, internal body manipulation required focus, even taking into account _**Jiongu**_'s sentience and his twenty years of experience with it.

Kakuzu's green eyes narrowed in aggravation at being denied his prize, and he jerked sideways to avoid the Storm Release: Light Cannon that erupted from Naruto's mask.

Fortunately, the movement saved him from taking the attack directly through the heart. However, the beam – only a couple of inches in diameter, formed smaller in order to catch Kakuzu off-guard – tore through the right side of his chest, blasting the mask containing Naruto's pilfered earth heart to smithereens. White porcelain crumbled to the ground as the _**Ranton**_ heart returned to Naruto's body, the blonde melding into the ground and resurfacing several dozen feet away to give himself time to regroup.

Kakuzu felt the spot where the energy beam had gone through, feeling more than seeing the threads of _**Jiongu**_ stitch the wound close. _Intelligent, to not allow me access to his hearts in order to replenish my own. The brat has certainly grown smarter…_

Similarly, Naruto ran a hand over the spot Kakuzu had inserted his hand, failing to repress a shudder at the invasive feel of his teacher's kinjutsu in his body. There was something distinctly _wrong_ about what had just occurred, and though he wanted a long shower to rid himself of the feeling, he knew that his focus had to be entirely on what the old bounty hunter was planning next. Kakuzu was unlikely to give up on trying to get at least one of his hearts in order to gain the upper hand.

But… he could take advantage of that moment, he realized. After all, in the previous exchange, both had lost a heart, but Naruto was still one heart up on his teacher. If he could maneuver the former Taki-nin into a position where his greed for a heart would override his other impulses, then the blonde could do another one-for-one trade-off and still emerge victorious.

He finalized his decision just as Kakuzu finished a series of hand seals, and suddenly the water surrounding the flat rock they were on began to bubble and boil, steam rising off it in waves. Naruto could feel the heat emanating from the pool of hot liquid from his position well away from the edge of the rock, and he wondered if people possessing advanced chakra natures such as Boil or Lava Release were born immune to the sweltering temperatures incited by their bloodlines.

The water level began to slowly rise, and Naruto knew he needed to put his plan into action immediately in order to stop whatever tactic Kakuzu was trying to employ. Wind swirled around him to materialize into a trio of _**Kaze Bunshin**_, all of whom charged at Kakuzu to engage in a taijutsu battle. They wouldn't stand too much of a chance, because the older male was far better with hand-to-hand combat than he was, but they merely needed to stall for several seconds.

With Kakuzu temporarily distracted, the Kyūbi Jinchūriki sprouted black wings from his back and took to the air, rising above Kakuzu and extruding his fire heart, leaving his storm one in his chest cavity. An orb of flame formed in the mask's mouth, and Kakuzu seemed to know what was going to happen, for he immediately ran through seals. A hollow pillar of magma erupted from the earth with him at the epicenter, aimed to engulf the blonde.

There was a huge buffet of air as Naruto's Wind Clones were dispersed by the technique. Instead of using slicing wind, the blonde had created these doppelgangers with blunt air, and Kakuzu – eyes on his pupil – was blown off his feet by the force of the currents. From his position on his back, he observed Naruto's fire thread-creature sacrifice itself to his Lava Release: Eruption Technique, the blonde releasing a full-body Violent Wind Palm to propel himself towards the ground.

As Naruto descended upon him, years of instincts had his skin take on the dark discoloration of the Earth Spear technique. Whatever plan his blonde pupil had, there were only a handful of techniques that could actually break through the hardening maneuver, and – given the blonde's propensity for wind jutsu – he doubted his protégé's idea took that factor into account.

A second later, the former Taki-nin was surprised when he felt the threads of _**Jiongu**_ pierce his hardened flesh. Naruto knelt over him with numerous black tendrils extending from the stitches in his forearms, the blue-white lightning crackling down their lengths giving them the appearance of live wires. The kinjutsu had perforated his legs, arms, and torso, keeping him pinned to the ground, and one more was quivering a hair's breadth from his actual heart. _Clever,_ Kakuzu allowed, _channeling chakra through __**Jiongu**__ in order to negate the defensive properties of __**Doton: Domu**__._

"Predictability kills," Naruto told him quietly. His blue eyes were hard with resolve, and Kakuzu met them with a measured gaze.

After a moment, Kakuzu laughed darkly. "How true," he granted, closing his eyes. _So, it appears as if the pupil has surpassed the master. He has exceeded the expectations I had for him._ The old nukenin waited for the final blow to come, but when it didn't, he opened his eyes. Naruto was staring at him with a curious expression on his face. "You have yet to finish me off. Do not tell me you are so weak as to be unable to take my life."

"You want to die?"

Kakuzu fixed his pupil with an unwavering look. "If you are prepared, there will not be any sorrow. I came here with one of two outcomes in mind: either you would die at my hand and be judged unworthy of being my successor, or I would die and my legacy would continue through you. This sentimentality is unbecoming of a hardened bounty hunter."

Naruto returned the gaze evenly for a long moment, not saying anything; despite what the bounty hunter said, he wasn't sure whether Kakuzu would've actually killed him or not, but he knew that he was tired of trying to meet his teacher's expectations. Finally, he said, "You know, Kakuzu, you taught me a lot of things over the years. Taijutsu, ninjutsu…how to survive…granted, your methods were a bit unorthodox, but I appreciated the fact that you took the time out to teach me the things you'd learned from your _considerable_ experience." He grinned a little at the emphasis on Kakuzu's age, enjoying the jab at his teacher while he retained the upper hand. Kakuzu had taken so many potshots at him over the years that it felt good to return the favor. "But even through all that, I think the one lesson you taught me that I always paid attention to was the value of a person's life. And I think you're worth more to me alive than dead."

Kakuzu felt the threads holding him in place withdraw; he sat up as they finished disappearing beneath the skin of his pupil. Green eyes gazed around at the conglomeration of Ame-nin that had steadily appeared over the course of his fight with his pupil. He scoffed as two familiar heads – one mint green, the other cobalt blue – jumped down from the assorted gathering and approached them, two smaller figures in tow. "Your time serving as Amekage has made you tender-hearted if you consider any previous relationship we once shared 'valuable'."

The blonde shook his head as Fū and Harō came to stand beside him, the former holding a girl with hair a shade paler than her mother's, the latter putting down another blonde who immediately ran to Naruto's side. Kakuzu estimated him to be 10 years of age, though his attention quickly returned to his pupil. "You misunderstood me. I think you could be a great asset to this village, should you choose to join. Maybe you could even become Keizo's teacher," he said, patting the blonde boy on the head. "And if not…" he shrugged, "well, I'm certain there are other ways you can repay me for sparing your life."

Kakuzu snorted at the offer – and at the fact that the Jinchūriki's son was also named after a shōgi piece, a trait meant to honor _him_, he assumed – though there was a strange appeal to teaching his student's progeny the ways of the world. Still… "I would no sooner join a Hidden Village than you would abandon yours."

Naruto grinned a little, seeming to have been expecting such an answer. "Fair enough. We can work something out, I'm sure." Ignoring his teacher, he turned to address Fū. "Where's Hidan?"

"Sleeping," she responded in a tone that implied the Jashinist had been forced into the activity. "Thanks for that, by the way," she mentioned to Kakuzu.

The bounty hunter hummed carelessly, ignoring her dryness. Naruto interposed himself back into the conversion, prompting, "So, the Mizukage, huh?" Kakuzu made a noncommittal noise in response. "You know, we were having a lot of issues with Kiri…and then, after rumors of Akatsuki showing up there sprouted, there were no more issues –"

"I did not do it for you, if that is what you are implying," snapped the thread-user. "She was a lucrative, challenging target, with two _kekkei genkai_ to her name. Any repercussions of her demise were merely coincidental."

"Sure, sure." A beat of silence, and then, "I might have to go confront the Raikage soon…he keeps pushing for an alliance with Iwagakure in order to wrest power from Ame. But I hear he's guarded by a lot of people with pretty hefty bounties on their head…"

Kakuzu didn't even try to conceal his interest. "How intriguing…" He appeared contemplative for a long moment, and then allowed the suture holding his chest together to unweave, revealing a pulsing mass of darkness. One hand reached in and then withdrew seconds later, a small scroll clenched tightly in its grip. As his chest was stitched back together, he tossed the object at his pupil. "This is for you."

Naruto stared at the object for a moment, stunned. "This is –"

"Yes. I have no reason to keep it. Consider it an acquired _kekkei genkai_ for your…lineage." The word 'family' was too distasteful on his tongue. He stood up and moved to grab his Akatsuki cloak, which was waterlogged, dirt-smeared, and possessed a plethora of rips and holes; heedless of the condition, he shrugged it on and closed the front. Keeping his back to the small group, he stated, "Naruto…you have grown into an impressive shinobi. We have not always seen eye-to-eye, but it is gratifying to see that you became some semblance of the ninja I intended you to be."

The blonde nodded solemnly, and though he knew Kakuzu couldn't see it, he thought his teacher could sense the motion regardless. To have the old thread-user acknowledge him by name and praise him…it was the sort of thing he'd sought for most of his life. "Thanks, Kakuzu…"

Kakuzu pretended not to hear him. "I will take Hidan with me…he may yet prove useful in Kumo." He began walking away, offering a departing intonation of, "Harō…Fū…Naruto…until the next time our paths cross."

The family of four plus Harō watched the bounty hunter disappear into the distance with a myriad of expressions. Naruto looked down when he felt a tug on his pants. Keizo was glancing up at him curiously with cerulean blue eyes. "Dad, who was that?"

Naruto placed a hand on his son's head. "That was my old sensei Kakuzu, the greatest bounty hunter the world will ever see…and the closest thing you'll ever have to a grandfather."

Keizo absorbed this information silently before asking, "Will we ever see him again?"

The older blonde looked into the distance where his former teacher had vanished. "I don't know," he admitted, "but I hope so."

-l-l-l-

**Author's Note:** Well…that's it. Naruto is Amekage because I find it amusing to give him a position that, in here, he's never even thought about wanting. And while I thought about taking out Hidan, I find it more entertaining to leave him in, so Kakuzu has someone to fill the void of not having Naruto around.

This has been quite a journey, and I thank all of you for your continued support, encouragement, criticism, reviews, favorites, and alerts; it means a lot to me. I'll miss writing Kakuzu, but come join me in Devil's Advocate, where I'll take on Zetsu…coming on my birthday, January 2nd. Feel free to leave me a review and let me know what you think about this conclusion!


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